North Carolina - W. T. F. ...and that doesn't stand for "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday", Dad. This actually brought back a memory from early childhood. I'm not sure how old I was exactly, but I was young enough to still live in Norton (younger than 7) and ride in the back seat of our minivan.
I asked my mom if women ever married other women. I can't be entirely sure, but this was probably because I was extremely afraid of getting cooties one day. She said, no they don't. I asked if women ever fell in love with other women. (There was a lot of Disney in my young life, and clearly falling in love was a theme in this conversation.) She said sometimes, but it doesn't happen as much as women and men falling in love. I said well even if it doesn't happen very much, if the two women are in love, why don't they get married to each other? She said, because it's not allowed honey. I remember being totally devastated by this because at that age, as a little girl, there is nothing worse than living your life with a boy. Luckily, I found one that I like... and I got my cootie shot.
Both the version of myself riding in that minivan back seat and the present version of myself are so happy, in fact this happy, that Obama finally, finally, came out in his own way - supporting marriage equality - as a giant slap in the face to North Carolina.
Another slap in the face to them? A large study, done in Massachusetts, shows an association between states supporting marriage equality and better health outcomes compared with states that don't. Really?!
I am completely shocked that people who are no longer burdened by a flagrant form of discrimination are happier and healthier.
And this means, wait for it, that since our levels of various health risks are all pooled together in insurance companies' giant figurative minds, that maybe they'll start flexing their giant figurative muscles and incentivizing states to enforce marriage equality. That's probably my idealized extrapolation, but either way, take that, NC.
I asked my mom if women ever married other women. I can't be entirely sure, but this was probably because I was extremely afraid of getting cooties one day. She said, no they don't. I asked if women ever fell in love with other women. (There was a lot of Disney in my young life, and clearly falling in love was a theme in this conversation.) She said sometimes, but it doesn't happen as much as women and men falling in love. I said well even if it doesn't happen very much, if the two women are in love, why don't they get married to each other? She said, because it's not allowed honey. I remember being totally devastated by this because at that age, as a little girl, there is nothing worse than living your life with a boy. Luckily, I found one that I like... and I got my cootie shot.
Both the version of myself riding in that minivan back seat and the present version of myself are so happy, in fact this happy, that Obama finally, finally, came out in his own way - supporting marriage equality - as a giant slap in the face to North Carolina.
Another slap in the face to them? A large study, done in Massachusetts, shows an association between states supporting marriage equality and better health outcomes compared with states that don't. Really?!
I am completely shocked that people who are no longer burdened by a flagrant form of discrimination are happier and healthier.
And this means, wait for it, that since our levels of various health risks are all pooled together in insurance companies' giant figurative minds, that maybe they'll start flexing their giant figurative muscles and incentivizing states to enforce marriage equality. That's probably my idealized extrapolation, but either way, take that, NC.
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