Four Weddings and a Birth
As if you didn't already know I was beaming with pride about being a San Franciscan, as if *I* didn't know it, I am damned proud to be Of This Place.
I talked about this with my good friends, Mike and Rich, and my mom today over lunch at Savor in Noe Valley. The steady, constant thrum of my pride in the CIty is a thing that emerges from the City's willingness—or is that its charter?—to go its own particular direction, in essence ignoring both the stampeding and the bovine docility (is that a word?) of the mainstream herd. But this?! This is something New. San Francisco has something to teach the rest of the world, and she's doing so proactively, whether the rest like it or not.
And she's doing it with her own style.
Call it what you will, the whole 2600+ same-sex marriages that have been performed in the last few days. Call it a grandstanding by our Mayor, or call it a stunt like some of the folks around on the web.
Call it any goddamned thing you want, but be sure to also call it what it is. Call it Fair. Call it Right. Call it "About Fucking Time". Call it: Marriage.
I think Newsom is a political genius; I also happen to believe that he believes all the things he says about the topic of same-sex marriages. That's part of what makes him a genius. Think about it. He does something that he and most around here think is simply Fair. He does something proactively positive instead of just a criticism of someone else's agenda. He does something liberal and strong at the same time. He remains steadfast. He vows to fight for fairness. And with pure political savvy, he rightfully passes the buck...only he passes it right up to the California State Constitution. Woo hoo!!
Mayor Newsom goes walking through the front door, a door which Willie Brown should have walked through years ago.
Look at the myriad pictures around the web and in the news of the couples getting married. Look in any one of their faces. Do you think it's a stunt? Do you think they're all just acting contrarily? Do you think activism is what brought these couples down there? If you do, you're dead on the inside and I pity you.
To Mark & Rigo, to Mike & Rich, to Steve & Michael, to Matt & Brian and to all the newly-married, especially those newly-married who have been married for years and years already, I'm so happy for you all.
As for the titular Birth? Gavin Newsom's strategy *IS* the New Liberalism. You heard it here first—or at least early—folks. We're on a roll.