Gay Marriages in San Francisco

When I was in soc.culture.filipino, I always rose to the defense of homosexuals and lesbians. I particularly disliked it when arguments would descend into name-calling like "Bakla ka ba?" (Are you gay?). It is as if the posters would win the argument by deducing that one's opinions did not matter because one is gay. Fools. A lot of them inhabit soc.culture.filipino.

But this name-calling is a tradition in the Philippines a land where there is so much oppression that if one gets the upperhand, one must carve out one's initials on the person lying under your feet. Who knows? Tomorrow, you might be the one lying on the floor being carved into. One might as well use one's power to abuse others. It's a sad and pathetic state of affairs in my motherland. I hope it will change for the better.

In the past weekend, there was a line of homosexual and lesbian couples who got married in San Francisco. The city had allowed gay couples to be married even though California state law did not allow such a thing. The whole mess will have to be sorted out in the courts. Now, this last sentence is one of the reasons I love America. The court systems are effective given enough time. Sometimes, it takes fifty or two hundred years for the courts to act, but they do act. The courts finally gave the black man equality in the desegregation court cases. And the courts allowed a woman to have an abortion.

I saw on the television that gay couples were coming from just about everywhere. One couple came from Georgia. I guess the couples were coming because they wanted a piece of paper saying that they were committed under the eyes of the law even though SF is going against state law. The SO has made a statement that Gavin Newsom SF's new mayor is probably going for higher office because he seems to be letting the floodgates of politics open. If he continues it like this, he might as well. I wouldn't mind a governor of California who takes on incorrect public law.

Which reminds me of a story. One of the girls that I had a crush on during college got married. I attended the wedding and met a good looking Vietnamese physician who was working at UC Davis at the time. I challenged said female physician to dance with the bride during the money dance. I pulled out a $20 bill from my pocket and pulled out the camera. Imagine my surprise when the bride's eyes popped wide open and asked the female physician "You're not going to dance with me, are you?" Just when I thought I know people, sometimes, I still get surprised. It was about 1996. The times were very open. But I guess in a Filipino wedding, it is not that open. It was odd because in the Philippines, females dance together all the time.