One Year Later
One year ago this night, I posted to Facebook the following status update:
Dino and I are FED UP! This nation has ONE YEAR to get its act together, repeal DOMA, and legalize same-sex marriage. If, by August 10, 2011, I am not able to marry my husband, we are leaving.
That update caused quite a stir among our friends, some of whom thought this meant for sure that we would not be able to stay. And while the Defense of Marriage Act had not been repealed yet, New York managed to legalize same-sex marriage, and Dino and I had a lovely church wedding. We decided that, for now, was sufficient. We are staying in New York City.
The whole experience was an adventure, and a learning experience.
Let me back up 5 years. I left Illinois for Florida because Dino was there. We left Florida for New York, because South Florida is a miserable place for two young gay men to live. Moving wasn’t all that difficult for me emotionally, because by the time I left, neither Illinois nor Florida felt like home. Now we’ve set ourselves up in this city. We have our friends, and our family, and our work. I have my church community, and my political comrades. New York City is our home. It is the first time, in a very long time, that I’ve felt at home.
We were ready to move again, because, as much as I love this city, living in this country can be maddening for young radicals. The last two moves, we were running towards something. This time, we would have been running away from something. We would have found a place to live, but we would be living in exile.
New York is a city worth fighting for, and we will stay and fight, not only for queer rights, but for all humanity.
I am so happy for you. You know that. At the same time, I read today that a California couple is being separated because one is Australian and is being deported. His husband (US Citizen – they married in CA) has AIDS and the Aussie is his caregiver. The US government is using DOMA to deny the granting of a spouse visa so the Aussie can stay here and get on the citizenship track . They would both go to Australia except the ill partner would not have health insurance. So, bottom line, there is a lot of work to do yet.
Katherine Posner - August 9, 2011 at 6:07 pm |