You Don't Like Your Own Medicine?

This week the State of California announced that they would return the designations "bride" and "groom" to California marriage licenses. The designations were removed after same sex marriage was made legal in California and replaced with the terms "Partner A" and "Partner B". (I got to be partner A on our form!)

Well since this happened a whole lot of people have been complaining about the new forms. They don't want to be "Partner A" and "Partner B", they want to be "bride" and "groom". So now you have the option of checking a little box and designating yourself bride and groom.

So here is my news to you. I want to be "Married". I don't want to be a "domestic partner" or "civilly unionized". I want to say "this is my husband", not "this is someone I live with in the State of California with whom I share many of the rights and responsibilities shared by married people."

Many of the people out there fighting to pass prop 8 say that gays and lesbians already have the rights of married people in California, so why does it matter what you call it? The people who fought to have "bride" and "groom" brought back to the California marriage license application know that it matters what you call things. There is power in our words.

So I am telling you all that while I am still planning a wedding, for the next four weeks I really think it's time to kick up the political activism up a notch. As we get closer to the election I ask all of you bloggers out there on the internet, all of you who have neighbors and all of you who have family and friends that believe that it is important to ensure these rights are retained to make sure your audience gets out and votes.

Not only here in California, but also in Florida and any other states where the rights of a gay minority are threatened by the lies and closed-mindedness of a small group of people. So get out the vote, and contribute some money to the Campaign Against Prop 8. It's going to happen someday, let's make that someday November 4th, 2008.