and now, a word from our sponsor...

I'm glum, chum.

Leave it to our politicians to muck a sensible and so potentially good thing up. Yesterday Wisconsin's politicos passed the Civil Unions and Marriage Ban (which, essentially, states that anyone who isn't a married MAN+WOMAN does NOT = a legal couple, nor can anyone who isn't the married MAN+WOMAN receive any legal protections or benefits as those who are straight hets.

Some of the more ridiculous quotes I heard from our delightful backwoods representatives included such fearmongering as {paraphrasing} the concern that if they vetoed this ban, next we'll have poly groups asking to be legally recognized ... and then human+animal partnerships.

Gosh, just hearing that made my heart inflate to three sizes too big, so proud to be a fellow statesperson of such a braintrust. *sniff*

KD and I are engaged. She's a chick; I'm a chick. We're both female. Now I'm not saying I buy into the whole idea of marital bliss - but I do believe in monogamy and in staying with one and only one. I also believe that so long as we both have committed ourselves to living together, paying bills together, eating and breathing and washing undergarments together, sowing seeds and harvesting the fruits of our labor together, working out disagreements together instead of running away, planning our futures together ... well, I think it makes sense that we should be able to receive similar benefits (health, retirement, hospital, other legal) that married counterparts have. I'd GET married if it was legal for me to do that, but as of yet it isn't so I can't. What a Catch-22.

I also think that men and women who have committed to living their lives together should have legal options and protections afforded our married counterparts. If this ban referendum passes in November it's gonna be a hell'a mess down the road. Faith is something I'm struggling to collect these days, but I have to hope that the citizens of Wisconsin will prove that we are all a forward-thinking population and that we are all prepared to show our elected officials how absolutely incorrectly they voted, how poorly they (mis)represented us. Please Wisconsinites, don't let me down. PLEASE?

Bless our city's Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (pronounced SIZZ-el-witz) who had this to say about the stupid ban passing through the legislature:

"The Republican Legislature has had their say, now it is time for the people of Wisconsin to have our say on whether we should write discrimination into our constitution. I am growing in my confidence that when this question is put to the voters, they will reject this immoral and unfair proposal.

"The extreme language of this amendment doesn't just ban gay marriage, it goes a step beyond and bans 'substantially similar' legal status. A legal analysis by our City Attorney has indicated that this language would threaten our ability to offer domestic partnership benefits to our employees, erasing an important competitive advantage.

"Madison is competing globally for first-rate entrepreneurs, employers and employees to sustain our strong economy and create good-paying jobs. Writing discrimination into the state constitution and preempting our ability to offer competitive benefits to potential employees is tantamount to putting a 'closed for business' sign up. I look forward to being active in the months to come in the effort to defeat this discriminatory, anti-economic development measure."

As different as the nervous nellies are, they don't seem to understand how very not different I am from them, save my fairly open mind. I want what they want: fairness, equality and freedom. Imagine that.