"Marriage is marriage" ?

To the SF Bay Times:

"Don't let them tell you civil unions are good enough," orates SF Mayor Gavin Newsom. "Civil unions are not acceptable. You deserve more than that. Marriage is marriage."

The right-wing likewise claims that "marriage is marriage" -- that is, that this social institution has one clear definition. Whether spoken by good guys or by fascists, such empty rhetoric displays gross ignorance of history and anthropology.

Not only do many cultures encourage one man to marry four or more women, but a few encourage one woman to marry several men (usually brothers). There are endless variations on who can marry into which caste, class, ethnicity, or lineage; within which degrees of consanguinity (or, in Korea, fictional consanguinity); at what minimum age, and so on. Marriage may be intended to last a lifetime; or to last for a fixed time, perhaps just one hour.

Here in the U$A, "definitions" of mixed (man+woman) marriage vary from state to state. "Common-law marriage" may be recognzed, or not. First-cousin marriage may be valid or void. And religious reactionaries have recently created TWO types of marriage in some states -- ordinary marriage and "covenant marriage", which is harder to dissolve.

As for civil unions, these are all that some countries offer to mixed couples -- a civil contract signed by the man and the woman, witnessed by a civil clerk. After getting joined legally,
the couple MAY seek religious validation from a priest, rabbi, witch doctor, whatever --
but the religious stuff doesn't affect the validity of the civil contract.

I wish our federal, state and local governments would get out of the religion business.
They should only offer civil unions, as a civil contract signed by the spouses, without regard to gender. Governments should pay no attention to any religious rituals, from baptism or circumcision to matrimony, exorcism, or the Shinto blessing of used brassieres.


Tortuga Bi LIBERTY,
San Francisco
19 February 2005
.................................

PS:
news, views, and events:

.....................................................................

ONE'S " YOUTH-ADJACENT " YEARS


Queer SF author Armistead Maupin,
guesting on NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" at UC-Berkeley,
gropes for a kind euphemism to label his post-youth phase of life.
A woman panelist offers "youth-adjacent".

Mercifully, she avoids mentioning what I experience --
bohemia's "third childhood".


Tortuga Bi LIBERTY
SF
Saturday, 19 February 2005
......................................................................


FREEDOM-SEEKERS' CALENDAR
( events + news-links
compiled by SUN and SaveFreedom;
with help from HolyTitClamps.com, SFBG.com, et alii ):
........................

For more "queer things to do"
in the San Franhattan Gay Area,
please visit Larrybob at HTC:

[ http://www.holytitclamps.com/ ]
.........................

For news of EduKink leather/BDSM classes,
please consider joining

[ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/edukink ]
.........................

Please FORWARD freely,
to willing recipients only.
..........................

...........................

*CAL-SF, 20 Feb.,
Sun. afternoon:
4th Annual Black Coalition on AIDS,
GLBT Film Festival - 
All are welcome to attend.
Main Library, Lower Level,
Koret Auditorium and Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room,
12:00 noon - 5:00 p.m.
100 Larkin Street (at Grove)



Sunday 2/20
Black LGBT Film Festival (Day Two)
Location: San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street
Admission is Free.

1:00pm Woubi Cheri
This is the first film to give African homosexuals a chance to describe their world in their own words. Often funny, sometimes ribald, but always real, this documentary introduces us to gender pioneers demanding their right to construct a distinct African homosexuality. Shown in the Latino/Hispanic Room.
Producers: Philip Brooks and Laurent Bocahut • Length: 62 minutes

2:05pm The Ski Trip
is a wild feature-length romantic comedy following the exploits of a group of queer Black and Latino urbanites as they live, love, lust and make big mistakes on a wacky weekend getaway. Shown in the Latino/Hispanic Room.
Director: Maurice Jamal • Length: 85 minutes

2:40pm Among Good Christian Peoples
Based on a poignant and often humorous autobiographical essay by award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson, this video adaptation illustrates the pull between desire for religious community and personal freedom.
Woodson looks at where she finds community growing up and grown: being in one of only two black families on the block, being the only writer in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses, being the only lesbian in her sorority (and having a white lover at that). Shown in the Koret Auditorium.
Producers: Jacqueline Woodson and Catherine Gund • Length: 30 minutes

3:25pm Kevin's Room 2
HIV counselor Kevin and his support group for brothers in the life has undergone changes, expanding the group for other men of color. New to the group are Tony, a young Puerto Rican poet with the hots for older Pharaoh, and Aaron, an HIV+ father in a relationship with a white man. Shown in the Koret Auditorium.
Producer: Lora Branch • Length: 62 minutes
..........
 
 
[ film info from Jim Van Buskirk, Program Manager
James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA  94102
phone: 415.557.4566.
fax: 415.437.4831
jvanbuskirk [at] sfpl.org ]
....................................................



20 February: SF:
Chinese Community Street Fair:
FREE.
Sunday, Feb. 20:
9am to 5pm
..............................

CAL, northern:
20 February 2005, Sunday:


The Widow Norton’s
Cemetery Pilgrimage To Joshua Norton’s Grave


Woodlawn Cemetery
1000 El Camino Real
Colma


Tickets – Free!
Bus leaves Marlena’s drag bar [488 Hayes St., SF] at 8:30 AM.

http://imperialcouncilsf.org/

415.864.6672

[Notes by TBL: (A) This year the Imperial Court system turns forty;
thanks to founding Empress I José Sarria, the Widow Norton, who still presides.
For details, please see SF Bay Times, Feb. 17:
"The Coronation is Coming!", by Sister Dana Van Iquity.

(B) The website doesn't indicate dress code for this pilgrimage;
nor who's invited.
Will "formal black tie and gowns" be required?
I'd like to visit the grave (as an admirer of Joshua Norton); but I lack any good clothing.
Maybe I'll just watch the group depart from Marlena's. ]

.........................................


20 February, Sunday morning, 10am:
Unitarian-Universalist Forum,
on "Red, Blue, or God --
How Religious Liberals Are Re-framing Moral Values".
FREE
1187 Franklin St, SF (near Geary & Van Ness).


http://www.uusf.org

......................................


23 Feb, Wednesday evening:
GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
hosts closing party for "St. Harvey" exhibit,
5:30pm to 7:30pm.
Free,
Open to the public.
657 Mission Street, Suite 300
(near Third Street).

415.777.5455

http://www.GLBThistory.org

...............................

*24 Feb, Thursday, noon:
free film
at main SF Public Library:
THE ACLU: A History
(1997, 57 minutes)
...............


*24 Feb, Thursday, 7pm:
authors present
VAGINAS:
AN OWNER'S MANUAL
at A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books,
601 Van Ness, SF.
Free.

http://www.bookstore.com

.................

*SF: 25 Feb.:
'Half Price Friday'
Open Play Party
at SF Citadel
8 PM to 1 AM
our special discount night of play -
only $10 per person!
RSVPs aren't required.
For work exchange, contact
volunteers [at] sfcitadel.org
.......................................

27 February, Sunday morning, 10am:
Unitarian-Universalist Forum,
on "Cents and Sensibility:
assessing our energy policy in the United States".

FREE
1187 Franklin St, SF (near Geary & Van Ness).


http://www.uusf.org

.............................

*CAL, northern: Berkeley:
UNDRESSED PROJECT classes continue...
Naked dance technique classes geared towards healing body image,
taught by Eric Kupers
and combining aspects of modern dance, improvisation, and
various somatic arts.
FOR ALL LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE.
Sunday.... Feb. 27th,
3 - 5 pm,
Western Sky Studio,
2525 Eighth Street, Berkeley,
$15 – 30 sliding scale.
RSVP to
erickupers [at] hotmail.com
........................................................


*CALIFORNIA, northern: 2005:
Near-nudes support
needle exchange programs:
Looking for a New Year's gift for a good cause?
HOTTIES OF HARM REDUCTION,
the faithful volunteers for the needle exchange programs servicing
San Francisco, Berkeley, Monterey, and Salinas,
pose ALMOST-NUDE in an attractive 2005 calendar
which you can buy online for that special someone
who gets hot looking at undressed activists.
All proceeds go directly to Points of Distribution,
Berkeley Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution,
and the Montery County Needle Exchange.
[ http://www.hottiesofharmreduction.org ]
.....................................................................................

###