BAY STATE FOLLIES...

The Gay Optimism Spin Society is in full swing after the recent elections. And who can blame them? Most of us left-leaning nitwits are feeling pretty hopeful about the next two years, at least relative to the last six. Now, if we could just find a way to deal with all the "I" and "A" countries...

But here's what interests me about the Bay State. Which we shall, for the nonce, call "home." I now present to you "Excerpts from New England's Premier [?] GBLT Newsletter" -- call it
"Small House of Uncle HX,"
as the parent company of the New York Blade has just acquired it...

Much is made of queer support for Deval Patrick, though the fact that he thanked and highlighted almost every other constituency in his victory speech except our Alphabet Soup list might mean something. That included "business executives," "artists," "college kids," "high-school drop-outs," "young mothers," "grandmothers," "farmers," "fishing families," and others... but not The Soup. [A group in Vermont has abandoned GLBTIQA [LSMFT?] in favor of "GLOW": Gay, Lesbian or Whatever. Hallelujah! I sometimes feel that if one more letter gets added to that acronym, I will run screaming from the room...]

The mayor of rock-ribbed conservative Cambridge weighed in with the opinion that "the gay community should be overjoyed that finally there is someone elected governor who understands marriage equality and humanity." Well, I suppose if what you are used to is Mitt Romney, that makes sense.

But what is the actual picture here?

Well, what interests me is that in the coverage packaged for us, Our Newsletter makes much of the fact that none of the opponents of the constitutional gay marriage ban were defeated. It is true that three of the most vocal opponents were replaced by proponents of gay marriage. And there are now five openly queer legislators. But the constitutional measure would, as I understand it at least, have banned civil unions as well as marriage, so a vote against it is not necessarily a vote for marriage, a bump in the road neatly avoided in the Newsletter coverage. Then there are the closing paragraphs of the elated victory screed, which are not quite as, um, cheerful as what went before.

With the election results behind, [behind WHAT?] the stakes could not be any higher for Bay State gays, as state lawmabers begin deliberations on a constitutional same-sex marriage ban. The Legislature meets today at 1:00 pm in a joint session to reconsider the citizen's initiative petition to roll back marriage equality.

Ellen Zucker, incoming chair of MassEquality, offered no predictions about the outcome. But she said, "For those of us in the auditorium tonight, we have a clear sense that the Commonwealth has a lot to do to move forward and to respect all its citizens. [i.e., we don't have the votes.] The debate about redefining marriage to exclude gay couples has no place in where we have to go."

[This is delicious! Since when was marriage defined to INCLUDE gay couples, aside from a court decision or two?]

Added Zucker, "Hopefully, the legislators in that room heard where Massachusetts has to go and will be willing to do what ever [sic] to end the debate."

What Mark Twain said about science might just as well be said about politics, or the "politics" of politics:

There is something fascinating about [it]. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.