About time

The Canadian parliament just legalized gay marriage. I am so happy. Not because the struggle for sexual liberation is won and we can all go home now - far from it. However, this vote is wonderful news for a number of reasons:

1) I recognize there are all sorts of contradictions in gay marriage. Marriage is an oppressive institution, with nasty historical connotations. But gays and lesbians should have the same rights as everyone else. That doesn't mean they're free of repressive sexual strictures, any more than straight people are free of them. But freedom of marriage is a basic right in bourgeois society, just like the right to own property if you're Jewish or to have integrated school systems if you're black. It's not revolutionary, but bourgeois freedoms are better than no freedoms at all.

2) It pisses off the right people. The right-wingers & religious nuts are up in arms, as they should be. They can't hide behind 'respect for religion' anymore. All they have is their hatred:

One Tory MP scoffed at the Liberals' self-proclaimed defence of human rights. He said the government has failed to protect the rights of children by refusing to toughen child-pornography laws or by raising the age of sexual consent above 14.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing people on that side of the House talking about rights, rights," Myron Thompson said.

Homosexuality = child molestation. That's all the right-wing has to offer: the same homophobic bullshit. I'll refrain from flippant jokes about anti-gay rural hicks molesting their animals, because it would be equally offensive. (Though David Cross points out that Texas tried to legalize beastiality at the same time as outlawing sodomy.)


Queer Nation threatening the rights of children everywhere

3) The vote is a recognition of the hard work gay rights advocates have done. I know all that gets reported is lawyers and the 'respectable' face of gay rights. But they're just a small public face of a much broader movement. There have been lots of groups that laid the groundwork for this, fighting in-your-face for recognition. This vote wasn't the largesse of parliament conferring legitimacy on grateful gays; it was a recognition that public attitudes are changing, thanks to a long, tough slog by activists over many years.

People like my late comrade Torvald. I hestitate to mention him in this context, because he would've been the first to denounce a social movement that stopped at gay marriage. He was a fighter for socialist, sexual liberation. But I see his years of activism as part of what led to a broadening of public space for queers.


That includes gay marriage, as a minimum demand. La lutta continua, there's a long road ahead. But I think we have to celebrate our victories, however small. To the 130+ MPs who voted against this, to the bigots cowering in their churches, I send a big 'fuck you': we're coming for your children. That's something Torvald would've agreed with.

Further note: A.C. said this today a lot more coherently than I did. Check it out.