A side note:
It may seem strange that I’ve made such a big deal out of the Nation of Islam gig. When I’ve talked to friends about it (perhaps some of you reading this!), they’ve certainly expressed negative thoughts about Farrakhan and his famous and controversial statements. And I got the sense that some didn’t know why someone like me would want to participate in this kind of thing.
Well, we had the Nation of Islam gig yesterday—and as expected, it was very interesting. The Tribune had an interesting article about it.
I won’t give blow-by-blow description of the whole thing, but Farrakhan (in his nearly 2-hour sermon!) did mark a “new beginning” for the church, one that seems to stress unity across at least the Abrahamic religions. The ceremony had Jewish and Christian themes and references throughout (in fact it seemed to me that he made more references to the New Testament than to the Qur’an!). He made a few points I disagreed with (e.g. he said we needed prayer in schools), and did draw some lines between communities. But overall his message was one of unity and stressed the importance of applying one’s beliefs in transforming oneself and one’s community. A good message, I thought.
A friend asked me if I was free to sing for a gig this weekend, with rehearsal today and performance tomorrow. Only four pieces, all pretty familiar (Ave verum corpus, Hallelujah chorus, etc). It’s at a church in Hyde Park I think, he said. Sure, I said, I can do that.
Then I found out it was the Church of Islam Dedication Service, headed by Minister Louis Farrakhan.
As I mentioned in my first post about our wedding, there’s a ballot initiative in California, called Proposition 8, that’s aimed at eliminating state recognition of same-sex marriages. While early polls suggested that the proposition would be defeated, a more recent poll shows more in favor than against (although it’s statistically a dead heat).
Prop 8 supporters have resorted to outright lies in their ads to whip up fear, and it appears people are being swayed by the lies. The fact that supporters have to use lies to convince people should tell you something about the strength of their argument.
The truth is that the status quo in California does not impinge on individuals’ and churches’ right to hold and exercise their own religious beliefs. The CA Supreme Court’s decision explicitly states that religions are free to define religious marriage however they see fit. And the legal status of same-sex marriage has no bearing on school curriculum–all curriculum decisions are made by school boards.
Extending marriage to same-sex couples is a simple matter of fairness and equality. Civil marriage offers a couple 1,049 legal benefits, covering taxation and finances, education, health care, family planning, child care, housing, legal privileges, and rights during illness and death. Denying these rights to same-sex couples puts gay and lesbian people, and their children, at greater risk in times of illness or economic hardship.
If you live in California, please vote NO on proposition 8. Don’t give in to the lies. And please talk to your friends and family about the issue.
So we headed to San Francisco to get (re)married. We’d booked the time at City Hall for the morning of August 29, and our friends were getting married in the afternoon.
I wasn’t nervous in any particular way, since I was pretty sure neither Aaron nor I would run screaming from City Hall or anything. But then I didn’t really know what to expect of the ceremony. I guess I expected it to be of the "raise your right hand and repeat after me" variety, since it was just a civil ceremony.
Turns out I was wrong—I was really moved by the ceremony and by the whole day.
Well, Aaron and I finally did it: after being together for 12 years, we got married last Friday, August 29, in San Francisco.
Wait a minute—weren’t we already married?
It’s an interesting question, and I’ve gotten to retell the story a number of times recently. Yes, we had our wedding back in 1999, in a church, with a reception and a wedding cake and a DJ and I think maybe even the chicken dance, with lots of friends and some family too. It was a pretty traditional affair, except for one important detail…
Blog’s on the way, sit tight! Meanwhile you can read about me via the links above the photo.
