Purple is revolutionary.....

The tide is turning, and the forces of hate and bigotry that have gripped our nation for decades -- selling us fear and suspicion about our neighbors -- are losing their hold on us dumb hicks thanks to tons of hard work and dedication by the forces of love and tolerance.

In a country where dogs and cats can be married without protest, when those who argue about the sanctity of marriage believe in it so much they divorce and marry multiple times and have multiple mistresses (Newt, I'm speaking to you!), a marriage between two loving gay adults is a revolutionary act.

Much has been said for and against gay marriage. That ain't my focus here, I take a dim view towards that racket run by church and state -- my interest is acceptance, not merely tolerance, of yer fellow man and woman. Who and how they love should be secondary to the fact that, indeed, they DO love. The forces of intolerance preach love, but taints that message with hate towards my friends, my brothers, my co-workers, that loving couple down the street who don't match a narrow definition of who is "real" and "valid".

The time for dividing us on gender issues is past, because it allows the class war to continue unabated -- being a straight ally, and wearing purple are both revolutionary acts, because it tells you I don't give a damn who yer consenting adult partner is, it tells you I don't give a damn who and how you love, but that you love.

And that love drives the right wing -- our common enemy -- nuts. Join me as I join you.

In closing, the prophet-comic Bill Hicks closed his shows with this song by Rage Against the Machine. The lyrics still remain relevant nearly 20 years later. When the reichwingers tell you to hate yer neighbor, yer children, yer brothers and sisters, yer coworkers, or anybody else because of who and how they love, do yer best Zach de la Rocha impression and yell "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me! Motherfucker!" And then embrace them, shower them with love, and tell them hatred based on who others love is so 20th Century.

Human Rights Victory

Does one need to be a woman to be a feminist? Does one need to be African-American to be anti-racist? More to the point, does one need to be a member of any particular group to identify with and support that group? Obviously, the answer is no to all three questions, and so it is with my identifying as a straight ally.

I've long had positive relationships with gay and transgendered folks -- I've been in their homes, I've been in their bars, I've hugged and I've kissed gay and transgendered friends in the same way as I'd hug and kiss any other friend or family member.

Much of this stems from being raised to be inclusive and non-judgemental, to be accepting and tolerant of differences, because usually those differences are so minor they are inconsequential.

All that to say that over the years I've become a straight ally, attending gay pride rallies, attending rallies in support of gay marriage and civil unions, and engaging in dialogue with both straight and gay friends and family about what being a straight ally means in general and what we as straight allies can do specifically to help our gay friends and family members achieve social justice through equality.

And it's because of the personal relationships I've had with my gay friends that I am very personally affected by Obama's historic directive to hospitals receiving federal money to allow for the gay partner of gay patients to visit them.

For too long, loving partners of gay patients have been viewed "simply" as friends, and denied visitation rights for their partners who lay sick or dying in hospital beds, like Janice Langbehn, who was denied access by a social worker to be at her partner's bedside as she lay dying from a fatal brain aneurysm.

Obama's directive tells hospitals that those dark days of discrimination are now over. This is humane, this is just, this is inclusive, and it is long overdue. This is not a gay or straight issue, it is simply a human rights issue, and as such, it is a clear human rights victory. It was politically courageous of Obama, and it was a no-brainer.

It is also the mark of a civilised society, and a place we can not walk away from. There is no turning back. And there should be no turning back until the GLBT community has the same rights and privileges as the rest of society.

And it's not just a gay victory -- it's a victory for patient rights in general, because now, we the patients have the right to decide who visits us when we're in the hospital, not politicians or bigoted hospital workers or family members.

And more importantly, this allows patients to decide who can have medical power of attorney to make extremely difficult but important life-saving or end-of-life decisions. Libertarians SHOULD embrace this, because it is about personal choice and personal freedom, and gets the state and corporate interests out of a very personal and often decision-making process.