My scrap of dirt

America.



YOU FUCKING DID IT.



THANK. YOU.

Now, I don't quite think you're the dreamland of opportunity Obama makes you to be, but I am really impressed with you tonight. I am particularly impressed with your record voter turnout (will post number when I have them) because that's truly beautiful. I am so, so very admirative of the way Obama has gotten people so involved and engaged in the democratic process.

Tonight I'm especially thinking of all youth of color across the country for who this is going to make a very, very concrete difference, even if it doesn't make the playing field level. But maybe even more, I'm thinking of the older folks of color, people who once lived in a world where a black person and a white person could not marry, and I cannot begin to imagine the emotion that today represents. This victory, first and foremost? Is and should be theirs.


In the meanwhile, with 33% of precincts reporting, yes on Proposition 8 (aka yes on banning same-sex marriage) is leading in the polls in California, with 53%. California, I can't believe you're about to do this. Please don't. :( (More when more results are in.)

An email I just got from my mom who just got up in France:
"It's amazing...
The States are also capable of amazing things...
Kisses
Mom"

Okay, I keep finding photos that I really love after all from today's ceremonies across California, and since you can never have too much happy, I'll post them here.


There's something about ecstatic they are, the way they're both holding on to that license that was denied to them for so long. I just love it.


Because they're a historic couple (Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon) and they've been together 55 years and they've been activists for longer than that and I just cannot imagine what it's like for them to have fought for their rights for so long and to finally be there, to finally put those rings on each other's fingers.


Because that guy is so horribly dressed and they're so not the kind of couple you'd feature and yet this is such a true hug and there's nothing else but the two of them holding each other.


Because I'm thinking the same thing (I love how proactive Newsom has been on that topic, though I know little more about the guy's record) and I like the look you can see in the guy's eyes. Also, sunflowers! Which must mean something not the Green Party, I imagine, but they make me happy anyway.


Photos from ABC.

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.

I refuse to call it marriage as they do all over the news, because the point is that it's NOT marriage, it's a union. But still, it's a big step forward, especially when you consider that some Western countries, supposedly more advanced on human rights issues, have not gone past that point yet. *glares at France*

So... I give you the Czech Republic starting to be open-minded! In French or in English.

62% of Czechs actually favor this law. I'm impressed in a very good way.

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.