Will We Be Ruled Equal?

Well, the US Supreme Court be ruling on our rights again. I am deeply tired of worrying about my legal status in this country. I know that if I, or my partner of 14 years, should die unexpectedly we would be considered nothing more than strangers under the law. Huge taxes would be levied on the surviving partner, taxes from which married couples are exempt. Her family, from which she is estranged, could try to sweep in and grab up all her assets.

Not to formally become partners is our own decision but it is also the result of oppression. Opting for this "domestic partners" contract is a poor substitute for the protections marriage offers.It comes with a  sock-it-to-you bill tax preparers receive for making up two separate returns: one for the federal government and the other for the state. This unjust financial burden has not been one we have wanted to shoulder. My partner and I do not live together either so, although it's no problem for Bill and Hillary, domestic partners must share the same address.

It seems like a no-brainer to me, and to most LGBT folks, that, as citizens we are entitled to equal protection under the law. But what tune will the Supremes sing? They are also going to be issuing a decision on DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) which has prevented the partners of federal employees from recieving medical benefits of their legally married spouses in the states where same-gender marriage is legal. The range of decisions the court could arrive at are not necessarily all or nothing. They are everywhere along a continuum where the worst-case scenario is that marriage is not a fundamental right for gays and uphold DOMA or they could declare that marriage bans are unconstitutional, marriage is a federal civil right and should be universally applied. In between, and most likely, are a million shades of gray, worth reading about but better left to the lawyers to itemize.

But whatever happens next, I do believe that time is on our side. We are finally seeing a bit of the bend in that long arc of the moral universe. Transgenders and people of indeterminate gender identity already help speed the struggle for equal rights because as people transition from one gender to another, it becomes harder to determine the composition of couples desiring marriage anyway. Confusion is a good thing in this case and, ultimately, gender is none of anyone else's business unless they are planning to engage in physical intimacy. In that situation, hopefully, it can be privately discussed.

Zero Tolerance for Intolerance

A handful of high-profile, media "progressives," John Stewart and Stephen Colbert leading the pack, have been promoting a harmful ideology that proposes that any display of anger, passion or deep emotional engagement in political struggle is out of control, unbecoming, and essentially wrong. In their own words, it is "insane."This fallacy, illustrated by the Stewart/Colbert "rally to restore sanity" equates T-(yranny) Party wackos like Glen Beck and Sarah Palin and their impaired followers with leftist activists who are speaking out for the fair treatment workers, immigrants, LGBT, people of color, the disabled etc. and equates them with right-wingers who want to curb or eliminate civil rights.

In the LGBT community this tactic is obvious and particularly destructive, especially with the burgeoning renaissance of the "culture war." Obviously, queers are still a hot button hate issue for many in this country. Denying us access to marriage, medical coverage and an end to job discrimination on an across the board federal level is still a distant dream. The recent decision by the US Supreme Court that defended the rights Fred Phelps to allow his hateful army of imbeciles to bring their disgusting signs to funerals of gay people is an interesting example.  While I acknowledge that the erosion of the right of free speech is a slippery slope, I do wonder what the decision might have been if the roles were reversed and queers were seeking the right to harass and intimidate them. Although these Baptist Bullies have the right to appear with their signs, their ignorance should not be accepted on any level or equated with our protests on the other side. There should be zero tolerance for intolerance. Free speech is one issue, but the war against LGBT folks, women immigrants, people of color, the working class is real and tangible and should not be "tolerated" on any level.

Obama, who has recently stirred a bit from his long, winter's nap, in eliminating Don't Ask Don't tell and instructing his administration's justice department to cease its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. We know that the amount of ambivalence with which he approaches the LGBT rights struggle is considerable. His erratic belief system that supports civil unions, but not marriage, hospital visitation but not full health insurance for partners, opens a window on his contradictory and muddled thinking. Is he in the process of re-evaluating his personal web of sophistry. A little dose of equality is like being declared partially dead. Either you are or you are not. At this point we have to put our faith in that long arc of the universe which will eventually be bending in our direction. 

Obama and DOMA Split-up/ Punked Walker Praises NYTimes

At long last Obama's arc seems to be bending a bit toward justice in the case of queer civil rights. He has instructed his justice department to discontinue its practice of defending marriage as an exclusively heterosexual prerogative, to ignore section 3 of DOMA. Is it conceivable that our asleep at the wheel president is finally waking up the concept of equal rights for all? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, the terminally fascist-leaning governor of Wisconsin was duped into believing that he was speaking to Tyranny Party representative, super-capitalist David Koch when he was actually chatting the progressive editor of the Buffalo Beast, Matt Taibbi. During their extensive phone conversation, Walker praised a front-page article from the New York Times, vilifying "evil" public sector workers and stirring up resentment and misinformation in an attempt to divide and conquer the working class. After all, why punish the actual bankers and venture capitalists who caused this mess, when we can just turn our anger against each other. So much for the mainstream media and its complicity, lies and corruption!