AddieStan

Here in our nation's steamy, sticky capital, as the annual Gay Pride celebration takes shape, temperatures are rising over the issue of marriage equality for queer folk. (Check out the Washington Blade for the skinny on the antics of the religious right's Rev. Harry Jackson, who was sent in by central casting to convince African-Americans that gays are their enemies.) This essay by noted DC poet and cultural critic Reuben Jackson (who is not LGBT) aired today on WAMU radio. In his commentary, Jackson writes of his recent experience of anti-LGBT sentiment in a District restaurant, and the link between racial prejudice and anti-gay discrimination. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO "WORDS LIKE PUNCHES" BY REUBEN JACKSON

The California Supreme Court has essentially ratified Proposition 8, the ballot measure that nullified an earlier court decision legalizing marriage rights for LGBT folks. Yet Californians already married will be permitted to remain so, regardless of the gender mix of their marriages. One suspects that the court could not agree on constitutional grounds for overturning the expressed "will of the people". Yet the legitimizing of marriages already performed calls constitutional questions of its own. The closeness of the Prop 8 vote suggests another electoral battle to come. From the Los Angeles Times Prop. 8 upheld by California Supreme Court : By Maura Dolan 10:08 AM PDT, May 26, 2009 Reporting from San Francisco -- The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law. The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over mar...

Hard to imagine, but once upon a time, your blogstress was married. Because that is not a condition she is eager to repeat, she is often delinquent in weighing in on the issue of marriage equality. (It is, of course, all about me.) But the fights over same-sex marriage now being waged across the country -- most notably, in California, where the Proposition 8 ballot measure threatens that state's equal-rights application of its marriage law -- are about more that your or my right to marry the consenting adult of our choice. This battle is about the fundamental equality of all human beings. Period. Marriage indeed comes with serious responsibilities, as well as significant privileges. For instance, where there is no same-sex marriage, you likely cannot name your same-sex partner as the beneficiary of your pension, if you have one. You cannot be named "next of kin," so you may be barred from visiting your partner in the hospital. If a same-sex couple raises a child to...