The Passion of Marriage Equality

Letter from the Editor - "The Passion of Marriage Equality"
Marianne Puechl, senior editor & co-founder
RainbowWeddingNetwork Magazine

I have quite a few favorite words, some less common than perhaps they should be in modern vocabulary: ‘Kaleidoscope,’ ‘Trailblazer,’ ‘Illumine,’ ‘Menagerie,’ ‘Jollification,’ ‘Imbroglio,’ ‘Gumption.’ ...The sound and the beat of them simply resonate.

Some of my favorites choreographed all together are the two hundred seventy-eight words that Abraham Lincoln wrote and delivered on that grey afternoon on November 19, 1863.

“...It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Without a doubt, these words resonate as well.

I keep them close: on my office wall, in the corner of my mind, sometimes in my back pocket like a road map. In the business of life and living, they can come in handy. In the business of marriage equality, they become a necessity.

Obviously, there are days when this country does not feel like our own. Recent posturing in the U.S. Senate and the rulings in the New York and Georgia supreme courts have once again shown that to be the case. But, as our foreparents and mentors have courageously modeled so many times before, to give in to cynicism is never the most productive stance. -Never the most peaceable either, in our own hearts or in the hearts of those around us.

So often these days, when I am out at Pride Festivals or Expos, rallies, business meetings or even casual dinners with friends, I observe people arming themselves with compassionate wisdom. I see them taking responsibility for having thoughts at the ready to share with others who may be around us: others who speak of underlying hatred, speak of discrimination. I’ve noticed that, more and more in recent years, the words of bias are being stated with a firmer sense of entitlement... the trickle-down theory gone even more seriously sour.

But these advocates and allies around me, standing up courageously on behalf of equal rights for the GLBT community, so often enter into the banter with precision, substance, passion certainly, but the passion for justice and not so much the passion for blame.

I applaud these advocates. Without them and those like them who have come before, indeed, this would not be our country. Instead, it continues to be a young America growing, a young America challenging itself, and a body of people progressing -at times lethargically, at times clumsily, at times with utter perfection- into greater understanding.

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