First—Happy Gay Pride Day. It was 46 years ago today that the Stonewall Riots happened in New York City.  Widely regarded as the precipitating event that spurred the gay rights movement, it is the reason Gay Pride is held in June. For more information about this event, here’s a link:

Stone Wall Riots:

Next, last Friday was a day that my family will remember for. . . pretty much as long as we can remember. It’s the day we lost gay marriage in my country. That’s right, there is no more gay marriage in the US—there is only marriage. It was a special day. When the decision came out, I called my husband and said, go pick up ‘lil q early, get on the train and come down town so we can all go to the Supreme Court and celebrate. And we did.

I wanted a picture of history. I’m like that. I went to Obama’s first inauguration to be there when we broke the color barrier to the highest office in the land and I wanted to be there on the day gay marriage was done away with.

For ‘lil q she didn’t quite get it, but she will in time. She was so excited that Mike was picking her up early that she couldn’t nap. Instead she was wide away, beaming when he arrived. I met them when they got off the escalator and she dash to give me a hug. When we got to the Capitol grounds, she ran this way and that to explore. To her, it was a family outing. To her, there is nothing odd or weird about out family, because their isn’t. But, still, we wanted to go down and be there just to be able to be a part of something historic.

I should be happy, ecstatic, over the moon excited and a part of me is, but another part of me is still angry and incredulous. The outcry against this event still mystifies me. Why are people who are not, never have been and never will be affected by my marriage, upset? What does my personal situation have to do with them? It doesn’t cost them anything. Don’t they know that the privilege of marriage means I now pay higher taxes?

These same people who rail against my right to marry are the same ones who scream about keeping government out of their lives. Right. They want government out of their lives, but they clamor for the government to crawl into my life. And this whole notion that gay marriage affects children is bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. When a self avowed good christian who is also a confessed child molest like Josh Duggar can get married and have four kids and no one is passing laws to take his kids away, this has nothing to do with ‘the children.’

If I’m a bad parent, the state has remedies. But we clearly don’t limit marriage and parenthood to only the very best, most optimal couples. So this argument that it negatively affects children is a crock of shit.

When no one passes laws to prevent abusive men from marrying a woman, or drug abusers from getting married, or people in jail from marrying women they meet on-line, their anger has nothing to do with preventing ‘bad’ marriages. The government doesn’t look behind the curtain to see if the straight couple getting married is really right for each other. There is no eHarmony 29 point compatibility test done to be sure theirs is the ideal marriage. So why do they care about me and mine?

My marriage doesn’t degrade theirs anymore than Elizabeth Taylor getting married for the eighth time does. Theirs is theirs and mine is mine. The two never intersect. My marriage doesn’t even affect their religion because no church is ever required to marry someone who is not of their denomination. The Catholic Church for centuries refused to marry people who were divorced, still won’t marry people where at least one of the parties isn’t a baptized Catholic. Two christians can’t walk into the Muslim Mosque and demand the Iman marry them. So again, where’s the connection that allows them to have a say in my marriage?

I’ve written before that the hypocrisy of our opponents is stunning. Christians as a whole do not denounce gay marriage. Some denominations allow it, some don’t. So that means only certain churches object and those that do want to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of us. In other words they have no qualms about infringing on the rights of others and telling other denominations what they can and can’t do under the law. (Forget for a moment the whole separation of church and state in this country and religious freedom. That only applies to things THEY believe in, not other people.) But they blast the government for any perceieved attempt to infringe on their rights—even when it’s not true.

So I have a question for them: Why do you care? There is nothing about my marriage that affects them or society as a whole in the slightest. What it does do however, is remove any protection for their bigotry. And yes, that is exactly what this is, BIGOTRY.

I’ll end this rant with one last thought. There is supposed to be a separation of church and state in this country. There is no one state religion. There is therefore no justification for using any one religion to limit the scope of a legal and civil benefit. Marriage is not a religious creation. Long before the ‘major’ religions of the world existed, marriage existed. Marriage doesn’t belong to religion. Religion has appropriated it and claimed it as their own, but that is false. The civil benefits of marriage don’t belong to one religion over any other. Nor are they solely available to those who practice a religion. Why the opposition believes that is the case just shows their stupidity and their ignorance.  Yes that’s harsh, but it’s true. Someone (Fox News maybe?) told them gay marriage is bad so they have to oppose it.

Fine. Let them oppose it all they want. Gay Marriage was abolished on June 26, 2015 in the United States. It’s dead. There is only marriage now. And that is how it should be.

Happy Pride Day.

Two last things:

First, I’ll be going to Rainbow Con in Tampa in July. If you’d like to come meet me, I’d love to say hi and chat. If you’re in the area, and are considering it, here’s a link:

RainbowCon:

Second, I’ve started a monthly newsletter. If you sign up, there is still time to get a free copy of The Last Grand Master.  Just sign up and you can get a free copy.  This month I’m giving away eBooks from Carole Cummings and Tali Spencer as well as a $15.00 Gift Card to people who are part of the mailing list. Sign up today:

Get Your Free eCopy of The Last Grand Master:

Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.

He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of twenty years, their young daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.

Follow Andrew:

On his website: www.andrewqgordon.com,

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon,

On Twitter: @andrewqgordon,

Or just email him: andrewqgordon@gmail.com

Books:

From Wayward Ink Publishing:

A Closed Door

From DSP Publications:

The Last Grand Master: (Champion of the Gods – Book 1)

The Eye and the Arm: (Champion of the Gods – Book 2)

From Dreamspinner Press:

Purpose:

(Un)Masked

Self published:

Ashes of Life