DEF EXCLUSIVE: GEORGE TAKEI RUINED MY MARRIAGE

There’s a meme circulating around the LJs that goes something like this:

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

And, me being me, I couldn’t just leave it at a simple copy/paste job – partly because I am a long-winded tiresome old bastard (especially when it comes to GLBT rights), but also because, to be honest, I wasn’t aware gay marriage was even that big an issue this election cycle, apart from California’s Prop 8 and the usual token statements from the candidates. I know it’s an important issue for a lot of people – it’s just that with the economy in the tank and two wars going, I’d have thought even conservatives had more pressing things to worry about than whether or not George Takei got hitched to Brad Altman.

Evidently not. For a start, Special Def Agent garbagecanmusic  brought this charming ad to my attention. I think it sums up the current conservative mindset pretty well: “Simple is good.”

Anyway, it’s fairly obvious what’s coming. Even if McCain loses, all the fear, loathing and paranoia that the GOP Pretty Hate Machine has been generating over Obama isn’t just going to evaporate overnight. The 40% of people who voted for McCain will spend the next four to eight years doing what they did all through Bubba Clinton’s two terms: declare the republic in Clear And Present Danger from the evil America-hating criminal in the White House and raise every bugaboo in their arsenel to prove how evil he is, with that old chestnut – the OMG OMG Homosexual Agenda®!  – a star attraction.

(You are familiar with the OMG OMG Homosexual Agenda®, I’m sure. You know, the one where teh gayz are conspiring with teh liberalz to force all white Christian children to be gay atheist Mexicans so that they can replace America with the United States Of Gay Atheist Mexico, while all the remaining straight white Christians are shipped off to Gitmo for “sodomy re-education”. Yes, that one.)

Either way, we’re probably going to be hearing a lot about this. So, for those of you new to Team Def,  I might as well get this statement out of the way, for the record:

1. I have been married in a heterosexual relationship since 1996. It’s going rather well, thanks.

2. HOWEVER, my views on marriage are somewhat different from most people’s, in that I don’t believe it’s a necessary component for any healthy long-lasting relationship. Put another way, you can co-habitate and still be every bit as happy as a married couple. If yr happy together, that’s all that matters. Marriage at the very least  gives you legal benefits – any added emotional value it might produce is up to the participants.

3. This is not limited to couples – it applies to poly relationships of all mathematical combinations and sexual orientations. As long as it’s consensual, it’s all good.

4. Consequently, there is NOTHING about the concept or practice of gay marriage (or polygamy, as far as that goes) that makes my own personal relationship and my vows any less meaningful. And I defy anyone who wants to “protect” my marriage from teh gays to demonstrate to me how legalized gay marriage will make me love the bridal unit any less (and vice versa).

Okay, yes, so what? The anti-gay forces aren’t motivated by reason. They are motivated by fear – whether it’s general homophobia or the fear of God’s Wrath® – and will make up all sorts of “reasons” to justify their position without sounding like scared superstitious dingbats. I’ve heard all of these "reasons". Repeatedly. None of them make any sense to me.

And frankly, none of them matter. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but let me put this as clearly as I can:

You do not get to lecture me or anyone else on the sanctity and stability of hetero marriage when the divorce rate is above 40%.

When you figure out a way to get that down to something like 5% without resorting to bribes, blackmail or experimental brain surgery, call me and we’ll talk. And you’ll still be wrong.

Okay, I’m done. I will take yr questions now.

Let’s get married,

This is dF

DEMENTIA 13! PART 12: I SEE YOU SHIVER WITH ANTICIP ..............................

We’re running a Halloween countdown here, and with one day left to go, we’ve had people calling up the Def Citadel hotline saying, “Man, don’t tell me yr going to ring in Halloween without something from Rocky Horror!”

Well, of course not. That would be silly. And criminal.

Greatness.

The great thing about RHPS is that it’s not in the least bit scary, yet encompasses so many of the elements that Halloween represents – especially the cross-dressing, which is why I went with this song and not “The Time Warp” (which I understand is available on children’s Halloween records nowadays – how twisted is that, I ask you?).

Removing the cause but not the symptom,

This is dF

IN YR SATIN TIGHTS. FIGHTING FOR YR RIGHTS. ETC.

Apparently October 26th was Wonder Woman Day.

I’m always the last to know.

Okay, it’s not a “real” holiday – it’s only recognized in Portland OR and Flemington, NJ, for some reason – but they do auction art for charity, so it’s worth mentioning. You can also view the dozens of WW portraits contributed by comic-book artists on the web site. Notice the recurring Sarah Palin theme.

Some are standard pin-up material, but others are pretty creative. I’m rather partial to the Fred Hembeck WW, myself.



That said, I’m not a big WW fan. Sure, I watched Lynda Carter play her every week, but I was 13, for God’s sake. There’s lots of potential there, but I don’t know if anyone’s really gone for it, or if DC would allow such a thing. She’s always struck me as one of those characters that DC never really had any idea what to do with after WW2 ended, a character created for a specific war who lost her purpose after the Nazis surrendered. Kind of like Captain America.

And you know what eventually happened to him.

And it makes me wonder,

This is dF