Rebel Love

I'm so not an artist.

Reflecting on events in Spain and Canada this past week legalizing gay marriage, I've decided that I'm jealous of....

Their kindness?
Their grown-up behavior?
Their belief that everyone deserves to be loved?
All of the above.

Do you remember that one girl in your third grade class who ran to the teacher tattling on everyone simply because she couldn't stand the idea that you were having fun, and GETTING AWAY WITH IT? We've turned into a nation of that joyless, mean-spirited, spiteful, self-righteous bitch.

Of course, America hung into slavery as long as possible, so I'm not surprised that we're on the back end of the morality curve this time. Maybe the next generation will look at two men holding hands on the street and think... nothing. Absolutely nothing. It will be so commonplace that it doesn't even register in their minds. I can only hope.

People who are ultra-right wing must not trust God very much. They don't believe that matters will get handled on a spiritual plain. That must be why they feel they have to take judgment into their own hands. Maybe they don't really believe in God. Maybe they never advanced from third grade.

Since my life's work seems to be tweaking that tattletale girl every chance I get, I've come up with a radical idea. It's the 4th of July, we Americans are supposed to be celebrating freedom, so I was inspired.

Legalizing gay marriage is going to come down to a duke-fest between Federal and State's rights. People of my generation equate State's rights with the ugly side of Civil Rights, so we tend to support a strong Federal Government. But when the Federal government is in the hands of people who think the freedom of religion boils down to picking between being Baptist and being Methodist, we have to turn to our states to protect us from them. State governments are more receptive to real live humans anyway.

(In an aside, a moment of silence for my California State Assemblyman, Mike Gordon, who passed away from a brain tumor this week. Mike was for legalizing gay marriage. That stance and many others made him the first politician I ever voted for, instead of simply voting against his opposition.)

Traditionally, the symbol of the struggle for State's rights over Federal enforcement has been the rebel flag. I suggest co-opting the rebel flag and making it over as a symbol of the state-by-state struggle for legalized gay marriage. And for those of us who are a little bent, note that the Confederate symbol is a Saint Andrew's cross! What could be more fitting?

So proclaim your Rebel Love loud and proud.

I can't wait to see Johnny Reb's face when his symbol of Southern Manhood is the centerpiece of a Gay Pride parade.

Happy 4th to all you Canadians and Spaniards who get to celebrate true liberty.