Alright, maybe she doesn't hate me - and maybe she doesn't even really know who I am. But dammit - I am really mad at her and now I’m making it a point to let everyone know why.
Basically - it comes down to this: Rachel Maddow gave an interview to the Hollywood Reporter (I incorrectly said it was Entertainment Weekly earlier.) – in which she said that she was afraid marriage equality would be a risk to the gay culture. And her point was that… well - here's her quote: "I feel that gay people not being able to get married for generations, forever, meant that we came up with alternative ways of recognizing relationships," she said. "And I worry that if everybody has access to the same institutions that we lose the creativity of subcultures having to make it on their own. And I like gay culture."
And I seriously can't get behind this.
Is she serious?
She is afraid of losing the creativity of subcultures having to make it on their own!?!?!
SHAME ON YOU, RACHEL!
Go ahead and create a stupid way of acknowledging your relationship with your wife. That's fine - but when (heaven forbid) she gets sick or hit by a car or something - and is laying in a hospital bed - your little subculture creativity isn't going to let you past the nurses who are only allowed to let next of kin into the room. Your little creative relationship acknowledgement isn't going to give you joint adoption rights with your wife. You wearing your little ring on your right hand because it’s part of your subculture won’t let you file joint taxes.
So keep pining for your subculture Rachel – I’m sure the Christians did the same thing when they were no longer forced to fight to the death in the Coliseum in Ancient Rome. I bet Jews thought that they would really miss their super-secret underground seders as they were walking liberated from the concentration camps.
These might seem like extreme examples, Rachel – but LGBT people are being bullied – sometimes to death. Look at Uganda and its “Kill The Gays” Bill – government sanctioned extermination – do you think the LGBT community in Uganda is actually contemplating what they will do with their creative subculture if the social climate in their country shifts towards equality? I doubt it.
Does the label of “outcast” really hold such high regard in your book? I can’t honestly believe that.
While I thank you for the strides you have made for our community, I have to point out that this is nothing less than a step back for us. I think you’re a moron if you think that receiving equal rights will make you somehow less gay. Look at other groups who have fought for their equal rights. Have they lost anything that makes them any less of a culture? The only thing they have lost is the angst of not being equal. And I’m frankly pretty pissed that someone in such a prominent position would even think about publicly stating that they don’t think they deserve equal rights.
Listen Rachel, maybe I’m taking the quote out of context – maybe I should wait until I get a copy of the magazine and judge then – but I just think that in today’s climate, we don’t need any more mixed messages. I don’t know if it’s internalized homophobia or what – but please stop giving haters more ammo about whether or not we should be able to legally say “I Do” (or use our creative subcultural references like “Get it, girl!”). The choice should be ours, not theirs – and I can (unfortunately) hear Maggie Gallagher mooing something like: “Even they don’t think they want to redefine marriage.”
Basically - it comes down to this: Rachel Maddow gave an interview to the Hollywood Reporter (I incorrectly said it was Entertainment Weekly earlier.) – in which she said that she was afraid marriage equality would be a risk to the gay culture. And her point was that… well - here's her quote: "I feel that gay people not being able to get married for generations, forever, meant that we came up with alternative ways of recognizing relationships," she said. "And I worry that if everybody has access to the same institutions that we lose the creativity of subcultures having to make it on their own. And I like gay culture."
And I seriously can't get behind this.
Is she serious?
She is afraid of losing the creativity of subcultures having to make it on their own!?!?!
SHAME ON YOU, RACHEL!
Go ahead and create a stupid way of acknowledging your relationship with your wife. That's fine - but when (heaven forbid) she gets sick or hit by a car or something - and is laying in a hospital bed - your little subculture creativity isn't going to let you past the nurses who are only allowed to let next of kin into the room. Your little creative relationship acknowledgement isn't going to give you joint adoption rights with your wife. You wearing your little ring on your right hand because it’s part of your subculture won’t let you file joint taxes.
So keep pining for your subculture Rachel – I’m sure the Christians did the same thing when they were no longer forced to fight to the death in the Coliseum in Ancient Rome. I bet Jews thought that they would really miss their super-secret underground seders as they were walking liberated from the concentration camps.
These might seem like extreme examples, Rachel – but LGBT people are being bullied – sometimes to death. Look at Uganda and its “Kill The Gays” Bill – government sanctioned extermination – do you think the LGBT community in Uganda is actually contemplating what they will do with their creative subculture if the social climate in their country shifts towards equality? I doubt it.
Does the label of “outcast” really hold such high regard in your book? I can’t honestly believe that.
While I thank you for the strides you have made for our community, I have to point out that this is nothing less than a step back for us. I think you’re a moron if you think that receiving equal rights will make you somehow less gay. Look at other groups who have fought for their equal rights. Have they lost anything that makes them any less of a culture? The only thing they have lost is the angst of not being equal. And I’m frankly pretty pissed that someone in such a prominent position would even think about publicly stating that they don’t think they deserve equal rights.
Listen Rachel, maybe I’m taking the quote out of context – maybe I should wait until I get a copy of the magazine and judge then – but I just think that in today’s climate, we don’t need any more mixed messages. I don’t know if it’s internalized homophobia or what – but please stop giving haters more ammo about whether or not we should be able to legally say “I Do” (or use our creative subcultural references like “Get it, girl!”). The choice should be ours, not theirs – and I can (unfortunately) hear Maggie Gallagher mooing something like: “Even they don’t think they want to redefine marriage.”
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