Recent Opinion Articles
Political Proof
It may seem counterintuitive, but we need Virginia's Republican governor and attorney general to pursue their far-right, anti-gay platform
Just to be clear about this before I start: I was appalled that Bob McDonnell could be elected governor of Virginia and absolutely horrified the Ken Cuccinelli was elected attorney general. In fact, I can't even remember who else ran for attorney general -- all I know is that I voted for the candidate who was not Ken Cuccinelli. As a current Northern Virginia resident who also happened to attend college in the state lo these many years ago, I'm ...[more]
Transformational Tie
Marriage may not change our relationship, but it changes our relationship to our community
It's funny, and often fascinating, how so much can change in such a short time -- and yet change so little. When our family arrived back home on Tuesday evening, we were the same family we were when we left home that afternoon. Yet, as a family we experienced an important change when my husband and I -- after being married in all but the legal sense for 10 years -- were legally married to each other Tuesday afternoon. The ...[more]
How We Won
Bringing marriage equality to Washington has been years in the making
March 3 marked the start of same-sex couples being able to apply for marriage licenses in District of Columbia Superior Court. The seeds of this victory trace back to 1975, when Cade Ware, Frank Kameny and Craig Howell of the Gay Activists Alliance (as it was then called) gave the first testimony before the D.C. Council in favor of same-sex marriage. In 1978 -- responding to Anita Bryant's successful anti-gay campaign in Dade County, Fla., the previous year -- Jim ...[more]
Celebrating Victory
Marriage Equality in D.C. should be met with great joy, even as we work to protect it from opponents of equality
It's in my nature to urge caution when it comes to celebrating our political successes. Long experience has taught us that defeat is sometimes snatched from the jaws of victory. It's often better, I think, to take a more measured approach that moderates joy to protect against the possibility of later disappointment. Not this time. This time, I'm as joyous as the gay and lesbian couples who, as I write this, are lined up outside a courthouse on a cold ...[more]
Conservatively Speaking
Even with GOProud's CPAC success, gay conservatives have a long way to go
I believe it's important to acknowledge when we're wrong about our assumptions or expectations, so I should point out that when GOProud initially announced its plans to sponsor this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) — a confab generally recognized as being a forum for some of the more extreme elements of the right-wing, a place where Ann Coulter could say ''faggot'' from the stage to applause — I had my doubts about the wisdom of the effort. But the ...[more]
Shticks and Stones
Cheap and easy shots may make for entertaining political outbursts, but it's damaging the nation's discourse
There's the old Woody Allen joke about how being bisexual can double your chances of getting a date. It's not terribly funny, but it gets to the heart of the self-defined bisexuals: maximum opportunity, minimum commitment. For those of us who are simply gay, the term bisexual is a joke on its own. We may allow the ''B'' in our politically correct rainbow, but honestly, we think you're just faking it. Pulling back the curtain on one fraud, we may ...[more]
Making an Exception
Cheney's support for repealing ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' is a positive, but it's fair to ask what took him so long
I was once a big believer in American exceptionalism. I don't mean the quasi-mystical version of exceptionalism in which God laid down the foundations for his favored nation around the time he introduced Adam to the dinosaurs. What I do mean is the idea of a nation that believes in the rule of law and a system of government that requires the consent of the governed. That's not to say that we've always lived up to that belief — ideals, ...[more]
The Jackson Jive
Harry Jackson argues for direct democracy, but fights ''home rule'' on the hill
Despite his being so dark and masculine, I am tempted to call Bishop Harry Jackson the White Queen after the character in Through the Looking-Glass who sometimes ''believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'' Whether or not Jackson really believes the things he says, he deserves credit for having the chutzpah to champion District of Columbia residents' right to vote at the same time he is urging Congress to interfere with the decisions of those voters' representatives. Some ...[more]
Why Maggie's Wrong
Analysis: When Maggie Gallagher complains that gay marriage forces religion out of adoption, she shows she doesn't understand how adoption works
How can I write this so that Maggie Gallagher -- of National Organization for Marriage (NOM) infamy -- will understand? A child loses his or her parents. That child is then an orphan. Still others are removed from their parent or parents' home for any of a number of reasons. Where do such children go? To the state (or, in one case, the District). They do not go to the Catholics. They do not go to the Jews. They do ...[more]
Mighty Real
Despite what many Tea Partiers think, real Americans can be gay or straight
Being a product of the ''Real America'' — that halcyon collection of rural farmlands and evangelical hotbeds that see themselves as the authentic bedrock of the nation — I still have trouble wrapping my head around the idea that I'm no longer real. Real Americans are once more in the news, although when you look closely enough they never really left. But from Sarah Palin's evocation of the real Virginia in the last presidential campaign — as opposed the fantasy ...[more]
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