The successful, pragmatic strategy of gay activists has been to assert that same-sex marriage will not change the institution itself. Their argument is that there is no need to defend marriage against loving same-sex couples, because these couples don’t want to alter it; they just want to participate in it. But as we race to a victorious finish, it is time to begin forcefully articulating that, in fact, maybe we do want to change marriage—because while marriage should be a choice, it should not be an imperative. For decades, LGBTQ communities have generated new forms of family built on foundations of shared commitments, collective responsibilities, nonconjugal love and parental devotion not predicated on shared genetics. Shut out of social-normative options for making families, they queered the very idea of family. It would be tragic to allow marriage equality to destroy or marginalize the pioneering work of queer families who have taught us that family is more complicated and more fulfilling than traditional models of marriage can ever capture.

+ here

South China Morning Post reports that parents of over 100 Chinese gays and lesbians have written an open letter to the National People’s Congress demanding marriage equality for the nation’s gays and lesbians. 

Below is the letter (in Simplified Chinese):

百余位同性恋者的父母致信全国人大代表

      呼吁同性婚姻立法的公开信

尊敬的全国人大代表您好！

   

    我们来自五湖四海，我们的孩子是同性恋者，我们被称为“同志父母”，我们的孩子因为同性倾向原因，无法与相爱的人合法组成家庭，结为“夫夫或妇妇”，给生活和就医等诸多方面带来不便。

 

    按照社会学常识，同性恋者约占总人口的3-5%，照此推算，中国约有6000万同性恋者，他们因为现行的《婚姻法》规定只能一男一女结合，而被排斥在婚姻殿堂之外。我们的孩子有些跟同性伴侣已生活了近10年，他们相互照应，相亲相爱，却不能在另一伴生病需要手术时合法签字。身为同性恋者的家长，我们时常感到焦虑，因为不能合法结婚，我们孩子在领养下一代、生病手术签字、继承伴侣财产、甚至买房等各方面都受到不同程度的影响。

    匪夷所思的是，我们的同性恋孩子尽管不爱异性，却拥有合法与异性结婚的权利。众所周知，同性恋与异性结婚，造成“同妻”、“同夫”等严重的社会问题，也让更多的人生活不幸福。难道我们的法律是要鼓励同性恋与异性结婚吗？

 

    另外，同性恋并不违反任何现行的中国法律，同性恋者是具有各项权利的中华人民共和国公民，同性恋者的结婚权利不能长期被剥夺。

 

    我们恳请全国人大代表和政协委员们给予关注，倾听1.2亿“同志家长”的心声，体恤6000万同性恋者对平等和尊严的渴盼，呼吁尽早修改《婚姻法》，让中国6000万同性恋公民拥有平等的婚姻权。

 

    感谢您在百忙之中关注此事，并祝工作愉快，身体健康！

 

    此致

 

    敬礼！                          

                          同性恋亲友会家长群部分家长

                                   2013年2月25日

Chick-Fil-A’s Anti-Gay Stance Prompts Other Fast Food Chains To Speak Out On Gay Marriage

Hilarious, especially McDonald’s.

[via:Happy Place]

COLORLINES.com reports on a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that found people of color are more likely to support gay marriage than whites. Moreover, black support is at record high:

The Washington Post explains the the findings:

The poll also finds that 59 percent of African Americans say they support same-sex marriage, up from an average of 41 percent in polls leading up to Obama’s announcement of his new position on the matter. Though statistically significant, it is a tentative result because of the relatively small sample of black voters in the poll.

+ here

WATCH: Lesbian Couple Proposal and Engagement During Toronto Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators Hockey Game

How awesome is this action? Maple Leaf fan Alicia proposes to girlfriend Christina and….watch to find out what Christina says!

(Source: Yahoo!)

bendoverbarbie:

sweetnessofbeing:

The gay rights movement has not been good about dealing with the issue of homeless gay youth, and depending on the study, somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of homeless youths identify as LGBT, reported National Public Radio, this past weekend.

too busy worrying about marriage…

Reason number 32084502845 I’m not jumping on board the mainstream gay politics train.  Instead of aping after heteronormative traditions, let’s focus on uplifting our people and keeping our kids safe and off the street.

In the same vein as the critique of Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign’s racial politics, homeless LGBT youth—particularly the queer youth of color who are disproportionately affected—aren’t the media friendly faces that the gay rights movement is so hard up on getting to convince the world that the most important struggle LGBTQI people face is access to civil marriage privileges.

It’s as if economic justice isn’t a primary concern of the many unemployed/underemployed LGBTQI, or of the queer youth who are affected by their parents’ economic health even if they haven’t been kicked out. I would honestly die of shock if HRC, say, worked with a local hunger coalition to address food insecurity of LGBTQI families.

WATCH: ‘It’s time.’

Get Up Australia’s RIDICULOUSLY Cute Same-Sex Marriage PSA

The Most Hilariously Effective Signs Supporting Gay Marriage

We’ve seen most of the ones on this list and of those we hadn’t seen before, this one kills us.