My Weekend Guest
So Lawyer X went out to Denver to join his sister at a hockey game. Yes, I know, but he likes it. So I ended up with dog sitting duties this weekend. Which I don't mind, don't get me wrong. I love Shiva. As long as I've moved anything that I don't want destroyed out of her reach. And so far I've been successful on that front.
How is she adjusting to living at Chez Trey's? What do you think?
Yeah, feel free to just snuggle up in my bed thank you very much.
Labels: Lawyer X, shiva
Jumping the Broom
“Jumping the Broom” is an expression that dates back to when black slaves couldn’t marry. Instead, they would have a small ceremony with family and friends and then the couple would jump over a broom to symbolize their marriage.
Now why do I know this? Because a couple of months ago we had “Bad Gay Movie” night and we watched “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom.” Based on a TV series on Logo, the movie was about a wedding by two of the characters (it’s an all black, all gay movie). The movie was bad. On a “Bad Gay Movie” scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being semi-decent and 10 being the gay equivalent of Ishtar, I’d give it a solid 4. Anyways, the movie went back to Nextflix and I filed this piece of information in my brain under “Useless Trivia.”
Until Tuesday.
Since the Supreme Court is lame, they’ve decided that the Prop 8 trial in California can’t be televised. It’s a non-jury trial. Considering the impact this case will have on MILLIONS of Americans, I really think this case needs to be televised. Even if it’s a delayed broadcast via YouTube. But they are scared/lame/useless and don’t agree.
So I’m stuck reading the live blogging that the Courage Campaign is doing. It’s riveting even if I don’t understand it all. But I’m trying.
On Tuesday as I was reading the blog and the issue of marriage and slavery came up. Proffessor Nancy Cott, who has studied the institution of marriage, testified:
“The ability to marry, to say I do, is a civil right. It demonstrates liberty. This can be seen in American history when slaves could not legally marry. As unfreed persons, they could not consent. They lacked that very basic liberty of person to say I do which meant they were taking on the state’s obligates and vice versa. A slave could not take on that set of obligations because they were not free.
When slaves were emancipated, they flocked to get married. Marriage was not trivial to them by any means. They saw the ability to replace the informal unions with legalized vows that the state would protect. One quotation, the title of an article, “The marriage covenant is the foundation of all our rights,” said a former slave who became a northern soldier. The point here is that this slave built his life on that civil right.
Informal relationships of black slaves were totally treated with abandon by white society. They were broken up all the time. The rush to marry by so many slaves after emancipation was a common sense approach to obtaining civil rights. White employers would often demand that black families and children work in certain ways. The former slaves assumed that once married, they’d have a claim of certain basic rights.
People remain unaware that in marrying, one is exercising the right of personal freedom. They don’t tend to equate the civil rights aspects to it. It’s only those who cannot marry at all who are aware of the extent to which marriage is an expression of basic civil rights.”
Slaves had to “jump the broom” since they couldn’t get married. And then once they were freed, they rushed to get married. They welcomed marriage not only as a symbol of their love, but as a way to claim their basic civil rights.
There’s a lot riding on the Prop 8 trial. It could be a miraculous win with an impact as far reaching as potentially overturning DOMA, or it could set back gay rights for 15 years. It’s a very risky case. But if the trial were televised, if the trial were on YouTube, then people could see and hear the testimony of both sides.
People would hear the truth: Marriage is an expression of basic civil rights.
Labels: gay marriage
Look, I'm Not Judging . . . .
I swear.
But do you really think it's a good idea to vogue to Lady Gaga on the elliptical at the gym?
First of all, I thought you were going to hit me a couple of times when you flung your arms out.
Second, I mean . . . . and again I'm not judging . . . . . . and yes it's a gay/gay friendly gym . . . . and good for you for living out loud . . . . but maybe you can figure out a better way to work your upper arms.
And I want to make clear that I love The Lady. It's all about Bad Romance. The dance remix of course!
So yes I'm back at the gym. After eating our way around the Mediterranean, then Las Vegas, then Disney, then France, and then the holidays, it was time to start to battle the bulge again. As I said to LawyerX, "Love Made Me Fat."
So it's back to the gym and back on Atkins.
LawyerX is trying to be supportive but he's not a fan of the effort. And to be honest with you, as cold as it has been in DC this winter, it's hard enough getting up and going to work, much less going to the gym.
Anyways, I've lost almost 4 pounds. I hope to lose a couple of more before we go to New Orleans for MLK weekend. Yes, there will be a diet hiatus while we are in New Orleans. Can you imagine going there and not eating or drinking? The horror!
But afterwards, it's back to the diet.
Home for the Holidays & 2010
So the trip back to Colorado was actually less unpleasant that expected.
Mind you, United didn't help. Despite several attempts to try to upgrade LawyerX, I failed. So I flew in first and he flew in economy plus. I did get him that. But the guy next to him spilled coffee on him. See, I can't win. And I loved the puddle jumper flight from Denver to COS, especially when we had to make three attempts to land in blinding snow when the instrument landing system was down. So the trip started well.
Now I have to say, LawyerX's insistence that we stay at the Broadmoor was actually a good idea. While it was far away from my parents and his sister, it was just awesome! Such a wonderful resort. And it had a fabulous spa which we took advantage of as well.
The parental units and LawyerX? It went better than expected I think. Between Mom's ingrained southern hospitality and Dad's health issues (improving, we think), I just don't think they had it in them to have a fight. Quiet denial (or acceptance) was more the way it went. But I think overall it went well.
Christmas Day before we went to the Broadmoor we went to visit my Aunt & Uncle who were visiting my cousin who lives in COS. So we're sitting there chatting and we're talking about the brunch at the Bmoor and Mom goes, "Well Special K, LawyerX, and Trey went to the Penrose Room last night." Which of course lead to the question from my Aunt: "Who is Special K and LawyerX." Yep, I've just been outed by my Mom. So I say, "Oh, Special K is LawyerX's sister. And LawyerX's the guy I've been seeing for around a year." Cause I'm not going to lie. So then we had some more conversation, none of it ugly mind you. We don't do that in the south. We're raised right, we talk about people behind their backs. So I'm sure the telephone/email lines were buzzing with the news. Oh well. It was going to come out eventually, I just hadn't expected it to happen so soon, or that way. I'm not close to my cousin or Aunt, so I'm not that worried about.
Afterwards, we headed to the Broadmoor for Christmas dinner with Special K and LawyerX. It was a little later than we usally do Christmas dinner, but it was fantastic. The dessert buffet was like 18 feet long. Just insane.
The flight back? Well as my Dad says, "If you have time to spare, travel by air." Our flight from COS to denver was fine. But as soon as we landed I got an email saying that our flight to IAD was cancelled. Oh joy. So United put us up in the Marriott at the airport. And when I say "at the airport" I mean 12 miles away. It was okay. We were re-booked in first class (both of us) which was nice.
As for New Years? I'm really not a NYE fan. LawyerX says NYE is for amateur drinkers. And I agree. But it's also just a haze of crowded bar and just not fun. So I sort of opted for a quiet dinner kind of early and then we had an after dinner drink at my place while we watched the ball drop on TV. Yes, I'm old. But it was nice, relaxed, and low key.
New year's day, we had our monthly brunch at the Four Seasons in Gtown. We did it last year and it was a blast. And we had several drinks so I had a nice buzz going. After that, we went to see Avatar. Absolutely amazing.
So that's Christmas and NYE. Pretty thrilling eh?
Labels: family, gay, travel
