GLBT Fortnight In Review, August 21, 2013
BY ANN ROSTOW
RIP Sarria
I’m sure San Francisco readers have heard about the death of Jose Julio Sarria, The Widow Norton, who died of cancer in New Mexico at the age of 90 the other day. When I lived in the Bay Area in the 1990s, Sarria was considered a colorful character in our community, always good for a flamboyant laugh. But when you consider what this man did for gay rights and gay visibility at a time when we were universally despised and ridiculed, you recognize that beneath the stereotypical diva persona was a tough activist, with the type of courage a Navy SEAL could only aspire to match.
Luckily, none of us in younger generations need face the waves of hatred that washed over our predecessors. For all that we have to complain about (and we still have quite a bit) the world has moved far beyond those days, and we have people like Sarria to thank for that.
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Land of Enchantment Stepping Up
And speaking of New Mexico, the Clerk of Dona Ana County has decided to offer marriage licenses to same-sex couples, even as litigation continues to move through the state court system. You may recall that a clerk in Pennsylvania did the same thing last month, triggering a lawsuit from the powers that be in the Keystone State. In New Mexico, however, the rogue move has legal foundation in an opinion from the state Attorney General, asking the state high court to declare bans on marriage unconstitutional.
Recently, the New Mexico supremes refused to fast track the two marriage equality cases that are now pending in lower state court. The decision to effectively delay the cases led Clerk Lynn Ellins to determine that same-sex couples in her county should not have to wait a year or longer to tie the knot, particularly now that the Supreme Court has struck the Defense of Marriage Act.
The High Court’s DOMA ruling has no technical bearing on state law, since it only concerned the question of whether the federal government has the right to discriminate between gay and straight married couples. But there’s no question that its underlying support for equality has had a broad impact on public officials and other courts. And, well, let’s just say that it feels as if the High Court’s twin rulings have tipped the playing field in our direction.
Hawaii, meanwhile, is the latest state to begin a hard push towards legalizing marriage by legislative action. Hawaii is, of course, the birthplace of court-ordered marriage equality, even though the pro-gay decisions of 1993 and 1996 were rebuffed by voters. But the Hawaii voters who amended their constitution in the late 1990s did not pass the usual type of marriage ban. Instead, the constitutional amendment allowed the legislature to declare that marriage was a heterosexual union. That means that the legislature can reverse itself without violating the antigay amendment, and it looks as if they will work towards that goal this fall.
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My Summer Vacation
You know, there are other gay marriage stories floating around this week, but the plot lines remain the same. We want equality. Many people agree that equality is right and inevitable. We are making progress in courts and legislatures.
That said, why belabor the details? Instead, let me tell you about our trip to the Solheim Cup in Parker, Colorado last week. A couple of years ago we went on an Olivia cruise, and there were moments last week that reminded me of an Olivia cruise on land. That said, we wished Olivia had been in charge of logistics because much of the week devolved into a zoo of long lines, long waits, long walks and unnecessary mishaps.
We tromped around this lengthy golf course in 95 degree heat at an altitude of God knows how high until we approached cardiac arrest. We had no idea what was happening because there were very few signs. When we arrived at a green, we were quickly displaced by more aggressive fans who blocked any view of the players. When we splurged on the special bar pavilion, they stopped checking passes so the whole place was overrun and the bar lines were 45 minutes or longer.
We had a horrible meal at an expensive French restaurant. The next night, after one too many gin and tonics, Mel and I had one of our rare fights because I could not decide on a restaurant. She suggested I drop her off at the hotel and “go wherever I liked.” We ended up eating cheese and pouting in our hotel room. (At least it was cheaper than the French place.)
To top it off, as many of you golf fans are aware, the American team was quickly in the hole and wound up losing by the largest margin in the history of the Solheim Cup. Our car rental was double the expected price. The hotel pool was set at the temperature of the hot tub. And we got continually lost, even after four or five days of driving the same route. That said, there were a lot of lesbians! I love lesbians, but not even our many sisters could save this trip from near disaster.
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Most Annoying State Ever
So, I think I read that Thailand was considering marriage equality. As I implied earlier, I’m kind of tired of endless marriage news, so I did not read carefully. Plus, I associate Thailand with child prostitution and soapy tasting lemon grass, so whatever. Still, it would be nice.
I suppose I must add that the New Jersey marriage lawsuit was argued in lower state court on August 15. I’m frustrated by this open-and-shut case, which continues to crawl laboriously through the Garden State courts, even as the outcome is not in dispute. As you may recall, the New Jersey Supreme Court has already ruled that gay couples must be given the same benefits as their heterosexual neighbors. The pathetic civil unions that were put in place to achieve this goal are clearly insufficient to meet the test of “equality.” And yet the state supreme court has forced us to litigate this complaint from scratch, starting with the lower courts and eventually returning to the justices.
It’s not fair! Let’s imagine that I sued you for $100 and the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that you must pay. Instead of complying, you only give me $50. I go back to the Supreme Court to demand that the justices enforce the original ruling, but instead of backing me up, they make me file a new lawsuit to get the full amount. That’s exactly what has happened over the last several years in New Jersey and it’s more than infuriating. Add to that the fact that the legislature has also passed marriage equality, only to see it vetoed for no reason by Chris Christie, and you can put New Jersey at the top of the list of States That Should Have Marriage Equality But Don’t Due To Public Cowardice.
Christie did sign the ban on reparative therapy recently passed by the legislature the other day, but so what? Are we supposed to give him a nice pat on the back? I don’t think so.
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Juliet and Juliet Sage Continues
Do you remember the story of Kaitlin Hunt, the teenaged Florida girl charged with some horrible sounding sex crime for having a love affair with a younger classmate? Since the girls were something like 14 and 18, the tryst violated some state law and Kaitlin found herself facing jail and sex offender status. The DA offered a deal that would have given Kaitlin a couple of years of house arrest and would not have forced her to become a sex offender, but the Hunt family declined the deal.
Kaitlin became a cause celebre in the GLBT community, complete with a Facebook page championing her unfair dilemma. And it was unfair. Teenagers, whether gay or straight, should not be threatened with prison for having affairs for God’s sake. It’s crazy. What should the age range be? I don’t know. Five years maybe? But in any event, we (the gay community) also felt instinctively that Kaitlin was also being targeted because she and her friend were lesbians.
As you may know, so-called Romeo and Juliet laws exist to make sure that innocent teens don’t suffer the same fate as older predators. In the past, we’ve seen cases where Romeo and Juliet laws don’t apply to gay teens, and at first I assumed this was the situation in Florida. But in fact, Florida’s Romeo and Juliet law applies to everyone, including Kaitlin. The law, which covers consensual affairs between kids 14 and older who are involved with someone within four years of their age, simply allows the prosecutor to offer exactly the deal that was offered to Kaitlin, to wit a period of house arrest with no sex offender status.
The question remained as to whether Florida had historically turned a blind eye to straight teen “offenders,” but I haven’t read anything to suggest that this was the case. Ergo, although the situation was absurd, it did not appear to be antigay.
But we still supported Kaitlin, because c’mon! We’ve all been there. The girls were in love, and there’s nothing like being in love when you’re a teenager. It’s insane. I remember when my first love broke up with me, I decided I would quit college, move to her house and lie outside on the street for days and nights if necessary until she changed her mind. (It never occurred to me that this course of action might render me less attractive as a potential girlfriend. And no, I did not follow through with the plan.)
So here’s the latest. Kaitlin, who has been waiting for the next developments in her case, has been arrested and tossed in jail for violating the court’s requirement to avoid contact with her girlfriend. Instead of keeping her head down, she has been texting and sexting hundreds of messages, news reports say. The DA has now withdrawn any and all plea deals and is charging ahead towards trial. Kaitlin, Kaitlin, Kaitlin.
As we mentioned, a teenager in love is not in possession of a right mind, particularly a lesbian if you’ll permit me to generalize. Asking Kaitlin to avoid contact was like asking a hungry dog to stay away from the T-bone you just placed in his dish. But still. Honey, could you have just sucked it up for a few weeks until this ordeal was behind you? As for the DA, do you really want to put this kid behind bars? Is that why you went to law school?
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Young Love
Finally, speaking of prison, my friend and colleague Kim Corsaro inspired us to watch the first season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix. It’s one of those potato chip series, much like Homeland and House of Cards, that you can’t stop consuming from one episode to the next even as the clock strikes midnight and later.
It almost, and I repeat almost, made me want to go to prison myself. I can only hope that if Kaitlin is sent away, she emerges with a fabulous book or movie deal, assuming she’s a good writer. Surely Hallmark or Lifetime will consider an offer.
And now, I find myself with another paragraph to write. Not enough space for a new topic, and yet it’s too soon to draw this column to a close. Oh, but here’s a perfect tidbit for the Bay Area reader. In fact, maybe you already know that Steve Young and his wife are supporters of same-sex marriage, and even put a “No on Prop 8” sign on their lawn back in 2008.
Now, the masterful Mormon quarterback and his wife are scheduled to speak to gay Mormons at a conference in Salt Lake City, in part because Steve’s wife’s brother is gay. Did you already know that? Sorry, it takes time for these things to travel to Central Texas.
Hey. Speaking of Steve Young, are you ready for some football?
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