Glitter and Rainbows

Well, well, well. 

I try not to be too political in my blog; after all, I'm here to babble about mindless dribble....but, I have to say something about the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday, bringing forth the legality of gay marriage (or, as I like to call it, marriage). I've easily managed to stay silent on Kaitlyn Jenner and the Confederate Flag and the Affordable Care Act. I leave that to others. This is not a place of which to speak on such things. This, though....this gay marriage ruling....of this I must speak.

To be honest, it's the day after the ruling and I STILL can't believe this ruling came down from above. I NEVER thought I'd see anything like this in my lifetime. It doesn't make sense to someone my age, from my era. My younger counterpart at work (20+ years younger) thought it was a no-brainer and didn't seem to even remotely grasp my awe, my disbelief, my stunned-into-silence reaction. He just thought it was great and didn't give it a second thought. I tried to explain to him how this is mind-boggling to someone my age and of my era but I could tell all he was thinking was "wow, she really IS a lot older than me!" Thank you, young people. You are refreshing to your elders.

Let me be clear: I respect those who disagree. After all, we as a human race can't agree on everything (or, much of anything, at times). I shall not harbor bad feelings. Besides, that would be doing what we wouldn't want want other people to be doing. No discrimination shall be set forth in this blog about the misinformed, judgmental, Bible-abusing bigots who fought long and hard (and still fight long and hard) to keep this ruling from coming to fruition.To all the "Christians" who are divorced or wear cotton blends or have tattoos and piercings and yet still throw Leviticus around.... seriously, I love you sinner, but I hate your sin.

Oh wait, that sounded a wee bit judgmental. Apologies to all my "true" Christian friends. You know, those who follow the teachings of Jesus and don't take things out of context and don't spew hate out of every orifice. You are truly a God-send and to you I say thank you.

I was at the eye doctor yesterday morning, so I was nowhere a TV or computer or any electronic device when the SCOTUS ruling was announced. I was waiting for the ophthalmologist to arrive when I received a text from the wife, asking me to call her as she had "great news." I texted back that I couldn't call her as I was at the eye doctor and asked her to text me instead of call, to give me a hint of her great news. Although my pupils had been dilated, I was still about to read her text: "It is a historic day as the Supreme Court just ruled that all states are now required to allow same-sex marriage!"

People who have always been able to get married cannot grasp how much that one-line text meant to me. It was really hard to sit in that chair, in that exam room, in that eye doctor's office after reading that text. It wasn't that I wanted to whoop and holler--I wanted to find someone my age and stand in silence and awe and disbelief with them. I wanted to say aloud how I never thought this was possible in my lifetime. I wanted to see the sources myself. I wanted to contemplate the meaning of all this. I wanted to be with the wife, the wife who will be my life no matter what state line we cross. I wanted to have a moment, a tear, something...

Instead, I was left in a room, alone with dilated eyes. 

Thankfully, texting worked just fine. That young co-worker of mine immediately texted to congratulate me, making the wife's text that much more real. It was true. Like it or not (and, there are a whole lot of folks that do not like it), it was the ruling. The eye doctor could have said, "your eyeballs are going to fall out of your head in the next 30 minutes" and I wouldn't have cared.

After reading the texts, I realized that the wife and I could now live wherever we wanted. Up until this point, we had to live in a state that recognized same-sex marriage--which meant no moving to Wisconsin. Now, the nation is ours to behold, to conquer, to reside.

(Note to the wife: do not have dreams of grandeur thinking we are moving to Wisconsin next week. I'm a flatlander and you need to respect my penny-head way of thinking. It's gonna take time to embrace anything cheese.)

This morning, twenty-four hours into this adventure, I am still in disbelief, stunned into a weird silence because I can't seem to put words on my thoughts and feelings. I can't fully wrap my mind around this whole thing. In an effort to put words on it, I used this as my FB status: "Woke up this morning, still in disbelief and awe about yesterday's ruling. My first thought: "Yup, world's still turning, sun's still shining." My second thought was, "I wonder if that ex-Pastor Rick Scarborough set himself on fire?" My third thought: "I've gotta remember to thank all the straight allies and Christians who made the difference every day." ...Let this beautiful day begin with rainbow photos and heartfelt gratitude!"

I am glad to hear that the ex-pastor guy didn't set himself on fire. That's not the way to celebrate.

I read many on-line articles this morning, from both "sides" of the fence. One was written by a pastor somewhere in the land of 10,000 lakes. "Using" Corinthians, he wrote about the sin of homosexuality, indicating that true Christians know "you're wrong" [it's wrong] AND "you're loved." (Thank god it was something other than Leviticus or other overused/misused Old Testament passage. Kudos to him for originality.) I chuckled because that is exactly how I think of this thing.....from either perspective, it is "you're wrong and you're loved." He is judging me as being wrong and I'm thinking about him as being wrong. See? We are the same creature, just standing in different places. I guess that makes us both wrong about being wrong. I'm all good with that. I'm guessing that he's not.

Side note: this whole "love the sinner, hate the sin" is getting old. Just sayin.' Seriously. You could use that saying for almost anything....the gays, the tattooed, the divorced. I hate your sin of divorce but love you as a divorcee.That's a whole lot of sinners in this great country. I'm gonna be busy loving all those sin-filled divorced friends.

Technically, today is no different than yesterday. The world IS still turning. We're still married, like we were the day before. I'm still gay. My co-worker is still straight. Freckles is still mostly blind and mostly deaf. FOX news is still on the air. (I thought it might have imploded last night, what with all this liberal nonsense going on in the nation.) The ex-pastor is still not charcoal-broiled. There are still four million Republican Candidates running for Presidency. I still wear glasses. We still live in Illinois.

But, today IS a whole lot different than yesterday. I suppose it's exciting if on one "side," terrifying if you're on the other side. The fight to repeal this decision is already under way. No surprise there. Mike Hucked-a-Bee has his undies in a bundle, as is true with many baggers of tea. Personally, I like this new era, this thing called marriage equality. On paper, it's now equal. In reality, it is not--try getting married in the south or ask Faux News what they think. (Call that non-burning preacher--bet he'd like to do the ceremony).

We as a people do not have equality of many kinds in this great nation of ours. We have a long way to go overall. But, this new marriage era brings our nation a wee bit closer to equality and for that I am profoundly grateful.

Today, let us spew glitter and shit rainbows.

Today, let us celebrate.

Today, let us not set anyone on fire.

Today. let us not have hate for anyone or anything.

Today, let's just be.

Today, let's get our happy on.

Glitter and rainbows, people. Glitter and rainbows.