The winding trail to legalizing same-sex marriage

I never thought this day would come. 

In the mid-1970s, when I was first coming out, it wasn't even a dream. In Massachusetts, where I was living, sex between persons of the same gender was illegal. In the words of the the relevant state statute (it's still on the books, but it's moot, since the Supreme Court voided all of the anti-sodomy laws in 2003): 

Section 34. Whoever commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature, either with mankind or with a beast, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than twenty years.

I remember going to the Boston gay pride march in June of 1977. As I recall, fewer than 20,000 people attended the march and rally. At the rally, Charley Shively, a local gay activist, got up and denounced all of the institutions that oppressed gay people, and then he burned his "Harvard diploma, his draft card, and pages from a copy of the Bible."

Alexander Cockburn reports on the rally in Corruptions of Empire: Life Studies & the Reagan Era, p. 235:

I don't recall anyone talking about gay marriage at all - in fact, the atmosphere was quite different from what it is today. People wanted liberation, not just "rights," and liberation included smashing oppressive institutions like marriage. That didn't change for quite a while. 

First came commitment ceremonies. Many of my heterosexual friends got married in the 1980s - I went to a host of fun Jewish weddings, but wondered when we would be celebrating same-sex relationships. I can't remember the first one I went to, whether it was in the late 1980s or the early 1990s. They were designed to be a lesbian counterpart of the traditional Jewish wedding - some of them hewed very closely to the traditional ceremony, except for changing some of the words that didn't apply to a same sex wedding, while others were inspired by Jewish weddings (for example, using a huppah - a wedding canopy) but incorporated a lot of changes. (I still haven't been to a wedding between two men).

Simultaneous with those first ceremonies was the "lesbian baby boom," another thing that no one had anticipated. Of course, lesbians had always had children, usually because they had them from a previous heterosexual marriage, but this was something new. People had to figure out how to unite sperm and egg in new ways - one method was the turkey baster. The sperm donor (in the early years, this was often a friend of the couple) would produce the sperm and then the woman would put it into her vagina (I don't actually know if any of my friends used a turkey baster), and wait and hope for conception.

Then, sometime in the 1990s, people started talking about gay marriage. I wasn't very excited about it at first. For one thing, I was single, and it didn't seem so relevant, and for another thing, I was still inspired by the early gay liberation movement's antipathy to marriage. Anti-sodomy laws were still on the books in most states, and there were very few state-wide anti-discrimination laws (there still is no federal anti-discrimination statute that includes LGBT people). My thought was - let's deal with the anti-sodomy laws and the anti-discrimination laws, and then work on same-sex marriage. But obviously that's not how a lot of people felt, who were very energized to work on legalizing same-sex marriage.

And so we come to yesterday:

And to the rainbow flag projected onto the front of the White House. I really never imagined that!

Moscow's Gay-Bashing Ritual

When will the "Pinkwashing and Homonationalism" crowd get around to condemning the beatings and arrests of gay activists in Russia simply for trying to have a demonstration? 

Moscow's Gay-Bashing Ritual (New York Times)

A concerted effort by Moscow activists to secure a legal permit for an L.G.B.T. pride parade resulted, after several years, in a 2010 European Court on Human Rights ruling that directed the city authorities to allow the event to be held. Though Russia usually complies with E.C.H.R. decisions, this time the Moscow City Court responded by banning gay pride events for the next 100 years. That, and the pending legislation against so-called propaganda of homosexuality — passed in a number of Russian municipalities and likely to face a final vote in the national Parliament as soon as this week — have pushed L.G.B.T. issues to the foreground of Russian politics and L.G.B.T. organizing deep underground.  

Earlier in the day, a young woman stood up in front of Parliament with a poster and was attacked by a self-identified Orthodox believer before she had a chance to turn the poster to face the onlookers; she was then detained by the police. Then another woman unfurled a poster with the words “Love Is Stronger Than Hate” and had barely had time to say, “This is a legal one-person picket to protest the homophobic laws” before two policemen grabbed her and dragged her away. In all, at least 25 people were detained by the police in the early afternoon. Because what they had been doing was legal, they were eventually released without charge — but not before the 5 p.m. rally was over.

Reports on Jerusalem gay pride march

Both Haaretz and Ynet have posted stories about today's pride march. From Ynet - Thousands Take Part in Jerusalem Pride. From Haaretz - Thousands March in Peaceful Gay Pride March in Jerusalem.

A Reuters blog has another interesting perspective on the march. "Despite the cheerful singing and colourful banners, many participants who attend both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem’s gay pride parades, say the Israeli parade in Jerusalem, a holy city for the religious, is markedly different from a similar parade in the secular coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv, held a couple of weeks ago. One Israeli marcher said Jerusalem, as a much more politically divided city, has a very politicized pride parade: 'In Tel Aviv, the Gay Pride parade is more of a party. But in Jerusalem, it’s much more political, like a protest.' Several marchers echoed this sentiment. Na’ama, a member of Bat-Kol, an organization for Orthodox Jewish lesbians, agreed, adding: 'It’s not like a protest-it is a protest. I don’t want to take it for granted that I can walk here. But we also have to fight for other rights, like the right to marry. And we still have a struggle with the rest of the Orthodox community to get them to accept us.'”

Shlomit Or has also posted some photos from the march - Gay Pride Jerusalem.

Today's Gay Pride March in Jerusalem

I went to the gay pride march today in Jerusalem. It was quiet and peaceful. I saw one counter-demonstrator holding a sign - that was it. Otherwise, it was just a big group of people, many wearing or carrying rainbow flags, marching from Gan ha-Pa'amon to Gan ha-Atzma'ut. I saw signs and banners from the Meretz party and from Hadash (Israeli communist party), and some people carrying their own homemade signs. There was very little chanting, except from the two political groups. As before, the whole march was led off by people carrying a rainbow arch of balloons. (I didn't see them myself at the beginning, only at the rally afterwards at Gan ha-Atzma'ut). Oh, and there was a group of clowns too! Very silly.

I went with two friends who were also visiting from the U.S and who were thrilled to go to the march. As before, it was a very Yerushalmi experience - very sweet.

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

Mishmar ha-Gvul (Border Police) guarding the march.

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

"Our son is gay - and we are proud of him!"

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

One of the clowns

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

Flags

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

Gay deely-bobbers

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

Wearing flags

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

flags put up by the Jerusalem municipality

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

marchers from Hadash

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

flag flying from balcony

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

flags on Agron St.

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

and finally, the balloon arch

From Jerusalem Gay Pride 2009

the Jewish gay pride flag

Gay Pride in Jerusalem 2009

This year's gay pride march (June 25) will march in the opposite direction from the route of the last two years. It will start at Gan Ha-Pa'amon at 4:00 p.m., with the march itself beginning at 5:00 and proceeding to Gan Ha-Atzmaut for a rally at 6:00 p.m. In a way, I think the route change is a pity, since for the last two years it's meant that one can then easily walk further on to Emek Refaim to enjoy hanging out with friends after the rally. It should be fun, in any case, as long as there aren't Haredi riots against the march.

Jerusalem: Haredi riots prompt switch to metal trash cans

Something I have always wondered about is why the Jerusalem municipality keeps putting out new plastic garbage bins (after the old ones have been burned up by Haredi rioters), since the new ones can just as easily be torched the next time people decide it's cool to have a riot. It appears that they've now decided to replace them with metal trash cans.

An article from February 26, 2009 on Ynet, by Ronen Medzini reports on the change:

The Jerusalem Municipality has replaced dozens of plastic garbage bins with noncombustible metal ones, this after recurring ultra-Orthodox riots in protest of the annual Gay Pride Parade have cost the city more than a million shekels over the past five years.

During the past few weeks the new garbage bins have been dispersed throughout the haredi neighborhoods of Mea Shearim, Geula, Kerem Avraham and Shmule Hanavi, where extremist Jews have held violent demonstrations against the municipality and the local police's decisions, including the authorization of the gay parade.

An additional 200 metal bins are expected to be scattered throughout the city over the next few weeks.

City Council Member Sa'ar Netanel (Meretz) found that the riots of 2008, which erupted in protest of the arrest of three "modesty patrol" members, cost the city NIS 150,000 ($36,000).

According to Netanel, the June 2007 protests against the gay parade, during which some 300 trash cans were damaged, cost the city NIS 200,000 ($48,000), and the damages caused during haredi protesters in 2005 were estimated at NIS 100,000 ($24,000).