time to change my mind (edit 2)

One of the nice things about delivering the newspaper is that I almost always get a copy for myself.  My favorite section of the paper is the Commentary section.  I like to read the Editorials.

One of my favorite writers is Leonard Pitts.  Today, he writes: "…Rule Number One is, you cannot assert your own humanity, then turn around and deny someone else’s."  He is writing is support of Gay Rights, and, by extension, Gay Marriage.  In the General Election of 2004, Oregon’s Defense Of Marriage Act passed.  This specifically restricts marriage to a union between a man and a woman.  This bill was written in large response to something that happened the year before; the Multnomah County Commissioners rewrote the county’s marriage laws, and for a few weeks, Portland and Multnomah County were THE place to get married, if you were in a non-mixed couple.  Thousands of marriage licences were issued to people from all over the country.  It was later overturned by the State Supreme Court as beyond the County’s authority to change marriage standards, and those thousands of mariage licenses became in valid.  The reaction was a ballot inititive called The Defense of Marriage Act. (turns out it wasn’t so much a local thing as was thought at the time – ’twas an organised thing around the country during that period.  This was also about the time of Britney Spears’ 56 hour marriage to her high school frined in Las Vegas, so it was argued that "marriage" was beyond defending.  This City, County, and indeed the State too are pretty fair and open minded… but there are parts of Oregon that are way different than the metropolitan areas whose votes usually carry an issue.  I voted for it.  I thought it was a bit too much too soon, that society hadn’t changed that much.  Well, that was among reasons, I guess, since as I write I can think of several different ways I thought about it then.

I was working at the Oregon Zoo, which, interestingly, has a large proportion of gay and lesbian employees, and some of them got married during this time.  One of my smoking buddies was a dyke (and pretty attractive too…She didn’t shoot me down painfully when I asked her out) and was really happy to show off her ring and tell me about the wedding.  It was pretty neat to know someone directly affected by the recent news.

It got me to thinkin’.

Well, I grew up thinking ("knowing") that being gay or a lesbian was, like, wrong, and maybe, possibly, a sign of weakness or low character, or something like that.

After nearly 20 years of living in Portland, a city which is very conscious of the G/L/B/T community (because lots of them live here) – one of the city counsel guys is an out and out gay man; I’ve given some thought to this.  And does that affect his votes, is it a sign of bad character, does it seem, in short, to be something to hold against him, trumping all alse about him?  No, not really.  I’ve become more conscious of what I think I "know".

Well, ya know, I have given it a lot of thought lately (the last so many years, really) and think that maybe Leonard Pitt’s quote above is right, and I have perhaps been wrong. 

Ok, well, ummm, gee.

I think I should just sigh and acknowledge that I have had a mistaken idea and try to adjust my worldview to fit the world I live in.

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I should mention that it would seem that a great many writers here are of "alternative" pursuasions, and it has widened my point of view and given me cause to think about what I think I "know".

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