One Step Forward Two Steps Back
Found it at Feministing.
I wish I could be happy about the United States electing it’s first black president. I understand that people are happy about it and that it’s a symbolic victory and all that sappy stuff. Obviously, Obama is an imperfect candidate for many reasons that I don’t have the time or the inclination to write about. He loves sexism and had absolutely no problem using it to his advantage against Hillary Clinton. But really, that’s all besides the point right now, isn’t it? What really gets my goat are the gay marriage bans that passed in Arizona, Florida and California.
I truly believe that nobody should get married as it is a highly flawed institution which institutionalizes and legitimizes male dominance and the state meddling in private, non-abusive relationships. Marriage is a tool of the patriarchy! I say it as often as possible and I truly believe it. I stopped accepting wedding invitations this year. I used to use excuses like, “Sorry, I’m going to be busy that day” to get out of going to weddings. Nowadays, I explain my misgivings with the institution of marriage. This is a huge turnaround for me, as I came close to getting married a couple of times in my life and I am really damned lucky I dodged that bullet, as I would have deeply regretted it later.
But I digress.
I am really ticked off that the rights of gay people were up for popular vote in the first place. Should we take rights away from any group of people based on popular opinion? Hell no! The other thing that pisses me off is the fact that so many people think that gay marriage is a bad thing and wanted to take that away from people. While in my ideal perfect world full of puppies and unicorns, marriage would be in the history books, I do not approve of banning gay marriage. It just isn’t right.
On a more positive note, Michigan now has medical marijuana. I would have expected that gay marriage was more acceptable to the populace than medical marijuana, especially when you consider the constant reefer madness campaigns that the American tax payers are subjected to. It’s the only small light for me on a cloudy day.
I’m disappointed in you Americans. A black president does not make up for the further institutionalization of bigotry.
