Thoughts on Gay Marriage

As many of you likely know, over the past few days, there has been a lot of hubbub about the Supreme Court's hearings on 'gay marriage' cases, one of them centering around California's highly-controversial Proposition 8 and the other addressing the equally-contested Defense of Marriage Act. You've likely seen a lot Facebook profile pictures changed to the red and pink equals sign over the past day or so, and you'll likely see a lot of heated arguments-- I use that word intentionally in favor of 'discussions'-- on social media platforms over the next while.

I wanted to do an overview of some of the rights that LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) activists are seeking, and I'll add my thoughts on each as I go. Then, once I'm done with that, I'll blah-blah for a little while about what's going on between my ears in terms of the question in general. If you stay for nothing else, at least skip to the end and read the last three or four paragraphs worth of closing commentary. I get less long-winded as I write, so you have a better chance of it being short-ish.  :)

 I think it's important to define what we're really talking about here, because the different sides spend so much time bickering and arguing over what means what that everyone's too tired to listen to what anyone is actually saying. So the following list will cover rights that are currently denied gay couples seeking legal recognition for their long-term, committed relationships (comparable to what traditional marriage supporters would call "marriage"). This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list, and also, I'm not going to use the 'M' word, because I think to really understand this debate from a legal point of view, we have to set marriage aside and look at the issues. I'll come back to marriage and all that later, though.

Magic, Monasteries, and Maslenitsa

The past while has been quite the adventure: that is for sure. I guess the highlight of the last month or

so has been Maslenitsa, but I'll save that for the end. My life over the past two weeks has been dominated by work and translation, and that's been good, I guess, but I am glad to have today as a break from it all. I decided to take my honors thesis in a new direction, so I'm now translating and analyzing Russian verbal charms, which has been a lot of fun. My analysis is based on the confluence of Christianity and paganism within these spells, which will likely be pretty apparent to you in the short charm that follows:

94. Charm against bleeding
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is a sea-ocean, from the sea-ocean rides out a man so old, the steed beneath him brownish-gold, but thou, blood, stop for all time. For ever and ever. Amen.

Anyway, so that's that. It's been super interesting and super difficult at times, because a lot of the terms and ideas are pretty old. The texts themselves are from the 17th century, and I would say that I know only about half to two-thirds of the words. For the rest I spend forever guessing roots and modern variants and then looking them up in one of four or five dictionaries, both print and electronic. I've had some good success so far, though, and it's honestly been a lot of fun. I like the old, magic-esque quality that they all have. It seems right up my alley in terms of interests.

hospital bed

HOSPITAL BED

for no one really understands

the Loneliness of Death,

the Sorrow that ensues within 

those last few moments' breath.

and no one truly comprehends

the Pain of true Regret, 

the moments you would fain relive 

and words you can't forget.

One of the things that I love most about writing is it's an opportunity to develop empathy. In order to create characters, plots, or dialogues that are at all realistic, you have to frequently leave your own life, your own experiences, and drown yourself in the thoughts and sorrows and aspirations of people from all different age groups and walks of life.