Mindful Metropolis September 2010 : Page 12
publisher’s notes Chewing on Prop 8 R ecently, I had the honor of being in-terviewed on One Greener Radio by Shane Snipes as part of the Sustain-able 1000 series. Th e context consists of in-terviews of GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender) community environmentalists, “greenies,” sustainability-focused leaders in 48 states over a 250 day period. You can check out the show at http://sustainable 1000.com. Th e show was fun, and it made me think about the true nature of mindfulness. I had been thinking in broad generalizations about what it means to be gay and be perceived as being green. My initial response was: Aren’t gay men pegged for being sensitive, and isn’t sensitivity an integral part of being environ-mentally and sustainably focused? Doesn’t it seem like a natural fi t for gay culture to be part of the eco-movement? I think I stumbled on the kernel of preju-the new flash website of The Giving Tree Band! thegivingtreeband.com dice I still hold onto about my own culture. Have we all learned to blend in to some ex-tent? Maybe some of us don’t see anything culturally diff erent between ourselves and the rest of consumption-driven society. Maybe we make the same purchasing deci-sions based on popularity, media persua-sion, or impulse. Maybe we all don’t worry obsessively about the planet, get overly emotionally involved in cultural debates like Proposition 8 and the incredibly stupid things that seem to continually tumble out of Sarah Palin’s mouth. So, with my reality check in hand, I fi nd 773.822.4173 that I cannot speak for the GLBT commu-nity. I can only speak for myself as man with “gay” being just one facet of a mutli-faceted life. And, I am not sure the gay thing has anything to do with choosing not to pur-chase environmentally hazardous laundry detergent. Shocking. Now, about Proposition 8: Should same sex couples be given the right to marry? Speak-ing of multi-faceted, this topic is a veritable 12 SEPTEMbER 2010 diamond mine. I am going to boil this down from my own humble point of view: 1.) Th e majority cannot decide the rights of a mi-nority. Th erefore this must be a judicial de-cision, not a ballot option. 2.) Marriage is a supposed religious institution. However, that privilege comes with public rights. As soon as the words “married,” “single,” “widowed,” “divorced” started showing up on legal docu-ments and state & federal tax forms, it became a question of who had the right to be married, and should anyone not have the right to be married. 3.) Despite my opinion on marriage, it holds a special place in our culture. At one time, I would have told you that gay marriage was probably backed by a lobby of divorce attorneys. (It seems like a natural process if 15-20 percent of the popu-lation previously not permitted the right to wed were granted the option, then one might see the divorce rate go up proportion-ately.) However, divorce is an entirely sepa-rate issue that has more to do with our legal system and another set of prejudices. Hav-ing been both married and divorced, having parents who were married and divorced, siblings and friends who have been married and divorced, I have my little research study brewing. We need divorce reform. I remember in grade school, if you were caught chewing gum, the teacher would tell you to remove it unless you had enough for the whole class. Th is sounds like a stupid analogy, but the message is clear: You cannot have it unless everyone else can have it too. And, that doesn’t have anything to do with who I love or who shares my bed. Th e tenet is fairness, equal-ity and kindness. It is part of being civilized. Richard McGinnis Publisher
Publisher’s Notes
Richard McGinnis
Chewing on Prop 8
Recently, I had the honor of being interviewed on One Greener Radio by Shane Snipes as part of the Sustainable 1000 series. The context consists of interviews of GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender) community environmentalists, “greenies,” sustainability-focused leaders in 48 states over a 250 day period. You can check out the show at http://sustainable 1000.com.
The show was fun, and it made me think about the true nature of mindfulness. I had been thinking in broad generalizations about what it means to be gay and be perceived as being green. My initial response was: Aren’t gay men pegged for being sensitive, and isn’t sensitivity an integral part of being environmentally and sustainably focused? Doesn’t it seem like a natural fit for gay culture to be part of the eco-movement?
I think I stumbled on the kernel of prejudice I still hold onto about my own culture. Have we all learned to blend in to some extent? Maybe some of us don’t see anything culturally different between ourselves and the rest of consumption-driven society. Maybe we make the same purchasing decisions based on popularity, media persuasion, or impulse. Maybe we all don’t worry obsessively about the planet, get overly emotionally involved in cultural debates like Proposition 8 and the incredibly stupid things that seem to continually tumble out of Sarah Palin’s mouth.
So, with my reality check in hand, I find that I cannot speak for the GLBT community. I can only speak for myself as man with “gay” being just one facet of a mutli-faceted life. And, I am not sure the gay thing has anything to do with choosing not to purchase environmentally hazardous laundry detergent. Shocking.
Now, about Proposition 8: Should same sex couples be given the right to marry? Speaking of multi-faceted, this topic is a veritable Diamond mine. I am going to boil this down from my own humble point of view: 1.) The majority cannot decide the rights of a minority. Therefore this must be a judicial decision, not a ballot option. 2.) Marriage is a supposed religious institution. However, that privilege comes with public rights. As soon as the words “married,” “single,” “widowed,” “divorced” started showing up on legal documents and state & federal tax forms, it became a question of who had the right to be married, and should anyone not have the right to be married. 3.) Despite my opinion on marriage, it holds a special place in our culture.
At one time, I would have told you that gay marriage was probably backed by a lobby of divorce attorneys. (It seems like a natural process if 15-20 percent of the population previously not permitted the right to wed were granted the option, then one might see the divorce rate go up proportionately.) However, divorce is an entirely separate issue that has more to do with our legal system and another set of prejudices. Having been both married and divorced, having parents who were married and divorced, siblings and friends who have been married and divorced, I have my little research study brewing. We need divorce reform.
I remember in grade school, if you were caught chewing gum, the teacher would tell you to remove it unless you had enough for the whole class. This sounds like a stupid analogy, but the message is clear: You cannot have it unless everyone else can have it too. And, that doesn’t have anything to do with who I love or who shares my bed. The tenet is fairness, equality and kindness. It is part of being civilized.
