Some Guys Are Normal

Gay Wedding Controversy in Galveston

J sent me a link today about the local newspaper in Galveston, TX (a smaller coastal city near Houston) running a story about a local gay wedding.

Of course there are only two problems here. First, gay marriage is illegal in Texas. And second, apparently just speaking about gay marriage in public is enough to illicit outrage among many of the good folks in Galveston.

Both the original article and the follow-up response by the author are very well done. Read them if you have a second. I especially like the author's point that he wrote the story from the viewpoint of the men involved in the wedding because he wanted to portray the story through the eyes of "those most affected by the [gay marriage] debate," emphasizing that "we [already] all know what opponents of gay marriage think." It's a good point worth mentioning--so many opponents of gay marriage refuse to look at the issue on a personal level. It's so much easier to oppose something you refuse to be emotionally involved in.

While I found both articles to be very well done, apparently many of the readers of the paper didn't agree. Some were so outraged that they felt compelled to write letters to the editor that the writer claimed "would make the Ku Klux Klan blush." If you want to check some of them out, go here (the author mentions a few others in his editorial). There's really nothing new here--they're the usual claims that gays are immoral, sinful, not appropriate for children and the like. A couple mention the (pretend) inherent health risks of being gay, and one cited by the author even claims that gay weddings are illegal (a claim my step mom made to my brother when talking about my wedding). Newsflash to everyone--gays can have weddings all they want, they just can't currently have marriages recognized by the states.

I guess there are always going to be folks like this out there. I just wish they'd listen to a gay person for once rather than swallowing down the lies and stereotypes they are all too often fed. But, if you think about it, I guess it's progress that a small paper in a small town in Texas has enough guts to even run with a story like this, and even better--they stood by it after it was printed. We're making progress, even if the naysayers are sometimes still louder than everyone else.

posted by Brady @ 8:59 PM