Earth sucks.

In case you hadn't heard about the case of a woman being denied the right to stay by her same-sex partner's deathbed, in which a court found in favor of the hospital that denied the woman's rights you can read "Ask Nicola: Trembling With Rage" to learn more. You can also see a clip of a news story that has aired about the case

This makes me beyond angry. Angry that people are denied basic civil rights because some people are freaked out about them.

It seems to me that the issue here is respect, and how respect is only flowing one way. The people who oppose equal marriage rights say they have a right to have their beliefs respected, to have their family units respected, to have their idea of marriage respected.

Yet they feel absolutely no obligation to respect anyone else's beliefs, family, or ideas of marriage. They feel no need to respect that other people's marriages aren't their goddamn business.

More than that, it makes me angry that even if certain states do the right thing and grant equal marriage rights, other states can completely deny those rights. There needs to be a federal, nation-wide, legally binding equal marriage act in which EVERYONE has the right to marry the partner of their choice and have that marriage respected.

There is no "reasonable people can disagree" on this issue. There are only those who believe in oppression and those who don't. You may not like same-sex couples, you may not like GLBT folks, but if you say that they should be denied legal rights then we have nothing to talk about. Because you're wrong. I don't care about your religion, your beliefs, your ethics, your morals, or how squicked out you are. You do not have the right to dictate someone else's rights according to your beliefs.

Colleen Lindsay has also done a great service by providing the phone number for Jackson Memorial Hospital where the woman was denied her rights. I would STRONGLY recommend calling and letting them know that this sort of thing is not acceptable - that all human beings deserve compassion, respect, and EQUAL RIGHTS.

For the record

In case anyone needed qualification re: my stance on marriage equality, I think it's a simple issue.

I don't think it's a religious issue, I don't think it's even a family issue. I think it's a mind your motherfucking business issue.

You don't agree with same-sex marriage? Good for you. Don't marry anyone who has the same genitalia as you. There is no tenant in any of the major religions (so far as I know) that says that your salvation, righteousness, or obedience to God and/or gods depends upon whether or not other people are following the rules.

Meaning: if your neighbor is sinning, that's your neighbor's problem. It's not your business. You are not responsible for them, and that means you have no right to make decisions for them. You certainly don't mind ignoring if your neighbor is poor or sick or suffering. You certainly don't mind saying that people having food, shelter, and medicine is their own problem and none of your concern. But if your neighbor wants to marry someone of the same gender identity? You're all over that. Suddenly, it greatly concerns you.

So, like I said. If you don't agree with marriage equality, then don't marry a person of your same sex and you're fine. Other people's private lives do not concern you. They are not political fodder for you. They are not there for you to judge, oh yeah.

Find your motherfucking business and mind it, you bigots.

Free fiction - drive by link

Free short story, "War Dances" by Sherman Alexie is up on the New Yorker website. It's as gorgeous, sharp, funny, and wonderfully painful as you'd expect Alexie's work to be.

Sherman Alexie is the author of such classics as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - both of which I recommend very, very highly.