Gays, its summer 2010 so... EVERYBODY TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRTS

also in the UK we have gay marriage of a sort, and have done for five years or so, except it's called "civil partnership" and you can't legally call yourself "married". this is set to change pretty soon, i think. i hope. i'm all for marriage!

but the key thing, of course, is that it doesn't matter whether you, as a homo, are for it or against it. the right of equality overrides your personal take on it.

in other words, what elmo said.

some xposts:

surm, i do compare notes, but i wasn't comparing notes above in the instance where Alfred was accusing me of doing so. that's why i was confused— go up and read it if you care that much.

elmo, i agree with you in many ways. i just don't think that the State should really have any control over how people form relationships and what privileges they get when they form them. this is an admittedly naive belief, yes, but my question is: if your unmarried partner of 20 years wants to visit you in the hospital, should that person be allowed to do so? FUCK YES, and that permission shouldn't come from the State.

but mostly what this is about, for me, is an enshrining of marriage as the only way to express legitimate 'love' — note that many news outlets have been using language such as LOVE OVERTURNS H8. i find this construct to be completely false, incredibly insulting to many loving couples who have chosen NOT to get married, as well as continuing a system of privilege that has oppressed gays, lesbians, and women for years. indeed, it also enshrines a monogamy which, while admittedly pretty fucking awesome in many ways, has also been shown to be a relatively recent and somewhat unnatural state of being.

that said, i understand your points, elmo, and wish you all the best. you're a great guy, and whoever you end up marrying (i'm assuming it's the bf) is truly lucky.

stevie, i don't have a problem with other gayz getting married. just don't put down other ways of building/sustaining relationships, which seems to be the sort of outcome we're headed towards. i mean, in two years, are people going to start asking m4tt and i if we're gonna get hitched? i certainly fucking hope not. that would be wildly annoying and insulting, imho.

okay.

forgot to add that, despite my opinion on the issue, the 'other' side's blatant homophobia and horribl obfuscation is/was truly sickening. fuck them.

otm?

Thank you for the clarification, and your take makes more sense when it's rationalized and spelled out like that. Not the case when you come in bellowing "fuck gay marriage." Yes, there is a time in ones life to hope for that which does not exist, but there's also a time to acknowledge an attainable reality.

i.e. YES to all your points that The State should have no claim on how and who I love ... though an acknowledgment that those gov't constructs are capable of shaping people's opinions on, say, homosexuality and, ergo, are worth reorganizing in the form of legalized gay marriage would be nice

legal marriage has about as much to do with "love" as electing a president has to do with "hope": window dressing.

hey guys what's going on

misanthrope, get on board!

no i just got some stuff from ikea, feelin pretty good tbh

legal marriage has about as much to do with "love" as electing a president has to do with "hope": window dressing.

Window dressing to what? You don't even believe in love. If anything, love is the window dressing to marriage.

Gays now say marriage is about love the way the fundies say it's about religion. Those are the things individuals bring to it; the state does it for bookkeeping and taxes.

MATT P THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN??

i'll marry you gbx, send me a webmail and we can arrange it. thnx.

― jed_, Thursday, August 5, 2010 11:46 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

back tfo, I claimed him dozens of posts before you did.

Heylo peeps.

You don't even believe in love.

Now, don't be mean! I believe in love's 57 mysterious varieties, not the one-size-fits-all of the marketplace and songwriters.

I'm not being mean. You're the one who cited Woody "love fades" Allen upthread.

If it fades, it exists!

Cold comfort. No wait, that's no comfort at all.

Hey, happy birthday to Stevie D!

Yay, wish I could party with you Stevie!

oh me too. HBSD!!!! xxxx

happy bidet stevie!

one more year of being awesome btw!

happies to stevie!!! xoxothetableisthetable

woooooo, happy birthday!

chatting a dude on grindr in yr honor today, Stevie!!

Thank you all!!! This is going to be like the best 3 days I've had in a while. I also made the following house mixtape and I will upload it either today or on Monday.

http://a.imageshack.us/img530/2407/mixtape.png

happy birthday! xoxo

happy birthday monsieur

okay, not to dampen a parade, but i think Mattilda has some points here re: gay marriage.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129002759&m=129002755

Everyone out partying tonight? :|

not me. i ate pizza and watched showgirls.

I'm listening to choons and being generally bored, as usual. I need to stop being online so much, I think.

i saw 'the kids are alright' tonight and wished i knew some lesbians who lived in my town. now i am listening to baby dee and am about to fix myself a drink.

I watched an 11-inning baseball game after a 90-minute rain delay amid drunk young Georgians.

watched "Washington Square", attempted to recover from our ten hour trip to Poland at the OFF festival

Watched some bands at a loft party, got an awesome drunk haircut from my friend Ke4ton and then went with a bunch of fags to a radical queer dance party, where I (naturally) managed to find, dance with and spend the night hitting on the ONE flirtatiously coy straight guy in the entire place.

Hot anarchist who apparently is straight but sleep with the occasional guy if they are sufficiently politically radical. I do not qualify. Heh.

But Er1c (the boy I met at the Beach House/R0byn/Arcade Fire concert) is back in town from NYC and we will hopefully hang out sometime this weekend.

Was going to go out but fell asleep soon as I got home from work.

Happy bday Stevie! May dick be in your near future.

May dick be in your rear future

lol jord

I'm so fucking tired of being broke. I just want to stay in my room and never leave.

I'm in the same boat. But also staying in my room/indoors is driving me batty.

A friend asked if I wanted to do karaoke and I was supposed to meet up with this one guy tonight, but at the moment the thought of doing either makes me ill. Even if there's no cover at the karaoke bar I KNOW they'll want to do something else and I won't be able to because I have no money — and thinking about this has just lead to a train of negative thoughts: I'm already 23 and I haven't even gone to college and I expect to study music and be a composer? Who the fuck am I kidding? I just feel like slamming my head against a wall.

23? don't sweat it, there's plenty of time. plus, your head will be in a better place when it does happen.

ha ha ha the company i keep. sort of.

http://www.queerty.com/gay-tea-partiers-want-to-abolish-the-whole-marriage-thing-20100806/

Tried hard to flirt w/ baseball-fanatic worker at Atlanta queer bookstore today. Told him what bar I was going to Sunday night. SUBTLE?

Hoooo man I just had the most wonderful date! Gorgeous biker-type boy, slightly scruffy. Afterwards he sat and listened to Stravinsky with me. <3

I guess I feel a little better for the moment. :)