A very gay day!

Three months ago, I got a text message that from my friend John telling me he had gotten engaged. I texted him back “CONGRATULATIONS!!!”

A few weeks later John and I met up for coffee. After grabbing a cup we sat in the back room at a table. John asked me something that was to a shock for me:
"So I wanted to ask you something," said John, in a nervous tone. "I was wondering if you would one of my groomsmen?"
"Of course!" I gleefully responded. "It would be an honor."

What I haven’t mentioned so far is that John is gay. His partner, Craig, slipped the domestic partnership papers under John’s menu as an act of proposal to spend the rest of their lives together. As we all might know, John and Craig cannot legally marry in the state of California.

I’m not gay, however I was thrilled by John's news because he is one of my best friends, and I support gay rights. I feel every man and woman should have the rights of marriage, no matter their orientation. I also happen to have other gay friends and relatives that are dear and close to me, and their right to be happy with the person they love is important to them and myself.
So when California voters voted yes on Proposition 8 last November, my enthusiasm for Obama’s victory plummeted. For rest of my Wednesday afternoon following elections, I was silent and angered at the Prop 8 victory. My heart was lifted very recently when I heard that Governor Schwarzenegger did something I never expected his little conservative Republican heart would do.

He just passed two bills that is hopefully a step forward in gay rights. The first bill will recognize Harvey Milk on his own special holiday. Harvey Milk Day is set to be celebrated on May 22, Milk’s birthday. It’s a day for everyone to honor a leader in gay rights. The governor vetoed a similar bill last year. Why a change of heart? Maybe the terminator is terminating his shallow views on culture. Actually, it is believed he did it because President Obama awarded Milk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. Apparently this moved Schwarzenegger to sign the bill this time. I think Schwarzenegger doesn’t want to look like a fool in front of his liberal colleagues.

The second bill passed by Schwarzenegger deals with same-sex marriage sanctioned in other states to be recognized in California. Any same sex marriages performed in Vermont, or Mass. will be recognized by the state of California should the couples move. However, there is a catch. The only marriages that will be recognized are those that were performed during the 5 months that California performed gay marriages. It seems as though California legislature have found a way to stop our loopholes. But there does seem to be some progress with this battle on same sex marriage.

The topic of same sex marriage is growing more and more each day, as gay right supporters push to repeal Prop. 8 and as other states begin to recognize and perform same sex marriages. California is behind its own acknowledgment of diversity. It is time to really open our eyes. Because, frankly, our eyes have only been 3/4 of the way open. Like Gov. Schwarzenegger we must realize that we are a very diverse state with a very large and persistent gay and gay supporting population. We cannot keep ignoring this culture. We are after all, a very diverse state, and part of a country that’s built on hundreds of thousands of different beliefs. I look to the day when John and Craig get “married” so that I can be by John’s side and support him for who he is and who he wants to live with. I hope that day comes just in time for him and Craig to be recognized as a married couple in the state. Thank you to our governor, I feel that day is closer than we expect.

*the word "gay" in the headline is used as its original meaning: happy.
**John and Craig are not the real names.