My scrap of dirt

OK so like in three words because I need to sleeeeep, TODAY WAS AWESOME.

The crowd was huge and I LOVE being part of anything like that, the smiles and the hugs and the thrill of chants and the colors, SO MANY COLORS, I fucking love my community, and I took a ridiculous number of pictures (I'm talking over 800) that I cannot wait to share, and I loved every minute of it, even when the rally crossed that line of wayyyy too long. It was just such a beautiful event, in so many ways, and so many speeches made me well up, not just because they were sad but because of the energy, because of the sense of togetherness, because we will win this fight, because of the amazing desire to welcome and include and love. I almost feel bad for people who are straight and narrow, because being queer is seriously one of the best things that has happened to me and when I see and hear and listen to the spirit and determination from the queer kids, my generation, I am so proud to be standing there with them.





Source for photos here.

Not unaware of the irony of my "teh awesome" icon being the Obama logo, considering the great - and justified - ambivalence that the LGBT queer community has been feeling towards the President, but you know what - I'm still hoping.

I've been obsessed with Beirut's Nantes (I blame arcadiane who posted the song on her LJ recently), much in the same way that Snow Patrol's Set Fire to the Third Bar and Da Silva's Tout va pour le mieux obsess me. It's this sort of underlying, haunting sadness that doesn't dwell on itself.

I don't know if I'm ever going to stop talking about the writers' strike, by the way, but it's not looking likely. ourdramaqueen posted a video this morning that explains why the writers are on strike:



And dreamlogic on Flickr posted photos of Jossverse people striking: Marti Noxon, Drew Goddard, and of course, Joss himself. And it's a very cool photo that once again, really makes me wish I was down there picketing with them.


EDIT: Oh, and also I wanted to post that ad that Garden State Equality is currently running on TV in New Jersey. I really like the idea of it.

Two things I wish I could talk about more than I'm going to, but my brain is not cooperating right now and I'm not going to be articulate, so there's no point. But I do want to mention both issues:

- Legislators in France are trying to make it possible to collect data concerning people's religion, ethnicity/race (but we hate the term "race" in French, it's too loaded with historical meaning), cultural background. This is causing an uproar in France as it's considered contrary to republican principles and a dangerous path to categorizing people. I've argued in the past that not collecting this data just makes it harder to have solid figures on discrimination and on the make-up on our population (which can help acknowledge new realities).

However, I find myself torn on the issue. SOS Racisme has started a petition against the practice, which you could find and sign here. "Je refuse l’idée que la lutte contre les discriminations et l’effort pour l’intégration suppose la création de catégories ethnoraciales." ("I reject the idea that fighting against discrimination and efforts for integration necessitates the creation of ethno-racial categories.") The question, of course, is, do those categories exist whether or not you say they do? There's no simple answer. Between integration and multiculturalism there's no true answer, both have their good and bad sides. So I just want to encourage you to think about it - think about your position on the topic. What does it mean to expect people to "integrate"? What are they integrating into, how do we expect them to juggle that with their other identities? What are the risks of multiculturalism? Are all practices truly equal? What if a society that becomes so obsessed with what differentiates its citizens that it forgets what unites them?


- The other thing is the WGA (Writer's Guild of America) strike. The writers went on strike on Monday at 0:01AM EST. They're marching tomorrow, and Jane Espenson will be there. Joss Whedon has come out and said he supports the strike, while Marti Noxon has signed a Variety ad by TV producers who support the strike. I believe this is an important struggle. I believe in a country like the United States where strikes are so rare, people who do make the huge decision to go on strike never make that decision lightly. While I don't understand all of the issues at stake here, I do believe that the writers understand them, and have good reasons to fight their fight. In a society that sinks deeper into reckless, unequal (but "compassionate") capitalism every day, I believe there is no such thing as privileged unionized jobs. There's only under-privileged non-unionized jobs. Those people might earn more than you do, but it doesn't mean their fight isn't right. It's not by running a race to the bottom that we will better ourselves.

My heart is with the writers. I hope that they come to a satisfying settlement soon and that people will be supportive. I would love to still be down in L.A. tomorrow to go show my support - so if you are, if you can, do it. Go talk to them, engage them in discussions, honk as you drive past. People who strike might look like they're only fighting for themselves, but they're not. They're fighting for something bigger than that. Never look at a struggle on its own - that's what the media wants you to do, but that's not how it works. It's all interrelated.

In the words of (amongst others) Alan Tudyk: power to the people, baby. Participatory democracy is our chance, so don't look down on those who act on it.

OH.
MY.
GOD.

MASS, I love you. Julie and Hillary Goodridge, all seven of you plaintiffs and Marie Bonauto, who went and fought this in the court for us, THANK YOU. Today is a wonderful day in history.

I'm TOTALLY HYPER right now, and the thought that I'm gonna have to play a frisbee championship, study and debate tonight makes me think I should try coffee. But no matter what, TODAY ROCKS.

( read about May 2004's loveliest day, and Massachusetts's day of glory )

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE COUPLES WHO GOT MARRIED TODAY.