Just When You Thought A Same Sex Marriage Had Gotten Through By "Accident"!

I knew it was too good to be true and was waiting for the other shoe to drop. When the New York Post of all "newspapers" publishes a story you know they get the side eye after their President as primate debacle earlier this year. 

They claimed to have an Exclusive! titled, "Wedding Crashers" on a same-gender (male) couple that had managed to sneak in a marriage certificate in New York State despite the current ban there. Psych! 

As it turns out one half of the couple is in fact a trans woman who has yet to undergo the reassignment surgery but who lives her life for all purposes as one. Which is usually the requirement before you can have the surgery anyway. I haven't used their names because much of the story has been about using the male names of the couple. Wrong!!! Per Autumn Sandeen's post at Pam's House Blend who says:

I'm angry regarding how this story is being covered. This is not a same-sex marriage story; this is a transgender person not being able to marry the one she loves story. This is a story about why marriage equality is more than a gay and lesbian story; part of why marriage equality is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community civil rights issue.

If the couple in question technically was a same-sex couple, then for sure this couple are definitely not a same-gender couple. This was a marriage between a man and a woman where the state doesn't recognize the woman as a woman.

But at least in one example, it seems that even the LGBT media is gaying up this relationship by using male pronouns, using the male legal name of the female partner in this opposite gender couple, and putting the female name of the female person of the opposite gender couple in quotation marks.

Oh but this is just par for the course. Not only did the NY Post gunk up the story but the Advocate misled its readers as well by trumpeting this. Now I've discussed why transgendered folks are so peeved at the big Gay Rights Industrial Complex for co-opting their marital rights by pushing a "marriage equality" agenda that actually excludes them. 

Though I support it I think it's really foul what they've done and wonder if part of the reason why they have to face so much opposition is partially due to karma. I mean you can't claim to be a victim, steal the African-American Civil Rights movement mojo AND trample over your transgendered peers and get away with it - can you?

Well....I guess we'll see.

Let the Backlash From Prop 8 Be A Warning

Here in California the moment of our coming together unraveled rather quickly don't you think? Some people may not have noticed yet but certain people have already drawn their line on the white side and are gunning for our jugular. 

Some of these white people who identify as gay were sorta okay with following the Obama train because they felt he would do a little jig and tap dance on cue. They were anticipating tit for tat. If they voted for Obama, we'd vote No on 8. The fact that they made NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER to speak to Black (straight) people and have a history of excluding most Black people gay or straight from the official Gay Rights Industrial Complex then what were they expecting? Magical thinking doesn't work for anyone. 

It is not a coincidence CNN released inaccurate exit poll information and tried to present it a representation of actual votes. It is not a coincidence that certain white males who identify as gay with media access continued this lie and further spread the racial arson. It is not a coincidence that white people will appropriate elements of Black social movements and claim an endangered status when it suits them. It is a suit they can wear when navigating less amenable waters which can then be quickly removed once they are back on solid ground. 

I know many people are genuinely disappointed and angry that Yes on 8 passed. For them it may a singular issue of utmost importance. This affects many LGBT of color as well, but they're not the ones rioting! Since so many like to talk about discrimination I'd like to know how much people are willing to sacrifice to get rid of it?  Are people willing to denounce their white privilege to make it a level playing field for everyone? 

I highly doubt it!

I see this theme about 'homophobic Black bogeymen' as a straw hat argument that has no discernible meaning any more than the 'menacing Black mugger' Ashley Todd tried to use to start a race war on behalf of John McCain.  If a real discussion and analysis had been had the immediate eruption of anger and use of racial epithets even against fellow LGBT who are Black would not have occurred.  

Writer-activist Jasmynne Cannick wrote a great Op-Ed for the Los Angeles Times that you can read here.