This week was a major victory for the gay community. Doma and Prop 8 are no more. Now it is the states turn to do the right
thing and allow gays to marry like everyone else can.
This week’s prompts are:
"I come from the land of ice and
snow..." or "I come from a land down under..." or "Wherever
I may roam..." or use: a band of angels or "Something's rotten in the
state of..." or "two peas in a pod" or use sugar, but not in
baking or tie a yellow ribbon in some way or "We will be victorious"
or "Puff the magic dragon" or feature an Escher print or a piece of
Warhol pop art.
A friend sent along a video of one of the first gay
marriages to take place after the repeal of Prop 8. It appears below.
“Tom? Tom!” Ben called out to his husband. Tom had just gotten through the door from
work and had taken a shower. Ben was
sitting in the living room, listening to MSNBC, when the news broke.
“I’m coming, Ben,
hold your horses.” Tom sat down next to
Ben and put his arm around his man’s shoulders.
“What’s all the commotion?”
“I tried to call
you at work but you must have been on a call.
Did you hear about Doma and Prop 8?”
Ben was all excited he had a smile on his face and was beaming from ear
to ear.
“Yes, I did. All the
guys at the firehouse were talking about it.”
“No one gave you
a hard time or nothing?” Ben knew there were still far too many homophobes,
some in public service, like the fire department. He still worried about Tom’s safety
sometimes.
“No, all the guys
are cool about it, even the new guy, Chester.
Turns out he’s gay, He’s been with the house two months, and he
celebrated the news by coming out to us.”
“Wow, that was
brave.” Ben remembered how hard the
decision was for Tom to come out to his fellow firefighters. And that was several years ago.
“Yeah, it was,
but I think times have changed enough that more gays should be able to be who
they are.”
“I hear you,
honey.” Ben kissed his husband. “I wanted you to watch the wedding.”
“What wedding?”
“The wedding
between Paul Katami and Jeff Zarillo, They were the prop 8 plaintiffs. The mayor
of Los Angeles married them. They’re rebroadcasting
it now. Well, we’ll be able to see if
after all these darn commercials are done.”
After the “I do’s”,
Ben turned to Tom and saw the tears of joy running down his face. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who cries at
weddings.”
“This one’s different. It means that this is, hopefully, the
beginning of the rest of the states approving gay marriage.” Tom grabbed a tissue from the box on the
coffee table and dabbed his eyes and blew his nose.
“Tom, I know
we’re married. I mean, we’re married in
the state of Vermont. But I just wish we
could have been married here, in Pennsylvania.”
Ben wiped his own eyes and leaned his head on Tom’s shoulder.
“I know,
honey. We have to see what we can do to
change that,” Tom said wistfully.
Ben had made them
a beef stew and they sat outside on their balcony, enjoying a cozy dinner for
two. Dessert was also enjoyed
outside. Ben had made strawberry shortcake,
one of their favorites.
“I have an idea
how we can show some support for gay marriage.”
“How?”
“Come on.” Ben took Tom by the hand and stopped by the
craft room and grabbed yellow ribbon and a pair of scissors.
“Let’s tie these
on our trees in front. I’m going to take
a picture and go on Facebook and Twitter and post it. I’m going to call the campaign “a hope for
change.” A change so that all gays in
all states choose to marry. What do you
think of my idea?” Ben watched Tom take
some yellow ribbon, walk over to the maple in front and tie it around the
trunk. Come back to him and kissed him
on the lips.
“Every time I
think I can’t love you more you do something like this.”
They spent the
time tying ribbons around several trees and stood back and admired their
work. Now if only…
TBC
my fellow flashers:
Yup, if only. Hope the laws change so they can be marriage where they live.
ReplyDeleteTweeted.
What a great tribute to a landmark decision and what it means for people everywhere. :) I really love how real these guys feel, every time you write about them.
ReplyDeletea really really lovely little chunk of Tom and Ben's life. The video was a wonderful touch. i loved it. Thank you
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I really appreciate your support.
ReplyDelete<3