“ We picked up our marriage license yesterday and we will get legally married before November 4th. For this and for the following, I want to apologize. I want to apologize to my family because you can’t be here for this. There’s no time to get my mother and Matt’s parents here for the legal ceremony. I am sorry that in order to live the American dream, we are forced to elope.” – Ed Matthews, PopImage.com
Hey, there’s a U.S. Election in a few weeks. You may be aware. If you’re voting In California, you’ve also got a chance to vote to ensure people like my friends Ed & Matt can get married, and stay married. They’re good guys, and they’ve been together for something like 10 years. I want them to be happy.
Ed put me and Mal up in his living room for 2 or 3 days the first time I visited New York, which was easily the most amazing time I visited New York. Ed took over PopImage for me when I went on “break”, a break that has lasted about 5 years at this point. Ed’s even put his money where his mouth is, and published a few comics I really enjoyed, like the full-colour Young Bottoms In Love anthology collection from a few years back.
This week Ed is back at PopImage, and has written an editorial about his life–his desire to get married to the man he loves, the fact that he had to uproot his life and move from New York to California to do it, and how he wants other couples like him to have that same opportunity.
I will have been married for two years next week, to a pretty wonderful guy. My life has improved immeasurably since I met him… Hell, any of you who’ve followed my writing for a few years will notice that right around 2004 I stopped screaming at people all the time. He made me a happier guy, and while I still rail at the injustices of the comics world, I’ve managed to keep it to once or twice a month, rather than once or twice per day. I want Ed & Matt to have what I have, because it’s great, and it’s the right thing to do.
Ed is imploring all of you who live in California to Vote No on Proposition 8, a proposition which would amend the state constitution to ban marriage between Homosexuals. Further, he’s hoping that you can spare a little money and donate to the Vote No on 8 campaign. I can’t, unfortunately, because I’m not a U.S. Citizen. But I can blog about it, and hopefully send a few people from here their way.
California courts have already decided that equality is a right enshrined in the state constitution, and a bunch of people that don’t believe gay folks are equal to straight folks are trying to change that constitution. Being happy, being married to the person you love, it isn’t a special right. Everyone deserves a chance at happiness. I hope that, those of you reading this, can do a little bit to ensure that that’s true.
SPX 2002: The Big Gay Dinner, featuring (l to r): Dave, Aman Chaudhary, Tim Fish,
Jay Laird, Ed Mathews, David Frankel, Christopher Butcher.
http://www.noonprop8.com/
http://www.popimage.com/content/viewnews.cgi?newsid1224622428,65514,
– Chris
I should find a list of all the states that have anti-Gay Marriage amendments or propositions up on this election. I know my home state of AZ has Prop 102 this time. Which, even if I weren’t for allowing people to get married irregardless of sexuality, I’d vote against because their 50s-That-Never-Was nostalgia commercials are so damn annoying…
The Proposition 8 supporters bought a LOT of television ad time to try to scare people that they’re going to start teaching gayness to kids in schools “… and parents can’t do anything about it” (or something like that). The commercials run with some frequency– they had some money to work with obviously.
There were some very strange No on 8 commercials earlier– two housewives sit around a kitchen table; one says to the other “I don’t like the gays”, the other says “but do you really want to deny them rights” and then the first woman says “…no”. Very awkward. They weren’t very persuasive, and I haven’t seen them as often recently– or at least certainly not as often as the Yes on 8 ads.
The Yes on 8 ads went the scare route, so they’ve surged recently in the polls. It’s pretty close, and the Yes on 8 people are ahead by some slight amount (though maybe be under the standard deviation).