A Valentine for the State of Washington
Gay marriage was signed into law today in my adopted home state of of Washington! WA has become the 7th state in the union to legalize gay marriage and thank goodness I like the number 7 so much, otherwise I’d be a bit more upset that it took this long.
I’ve never bought into the commercialized version of Valentine’s Day, but if it is supposed to be a day to celebrate love, then I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than to honor the love and comittment of two consenting adults by recognizing their union within the sacred institution of marriage.
I use the word sacred because to me and to many people I know (yes, even including the queers!) marriage is sacred. According to statistics on marriage in America, there are only about 50% of us married folks who truly believe in this sanctity. Yet somehow, some of those who have proven that they disrespect the institution by marrying and divorcing as often as they change their undergarments (I’m looking at you Gingrich, Limbaugh, et al), simply by virtue of having a bull horn and a captive audience, think they have a right to loudly protest the rights of others to be recognized by the state (and perhaps by their faith community) as partners in love and life.These same people are not unlike Valentine’s Day – purportedly about something huge, but behind all the fluff really quite vacuous. Harsh? Maybe. But so is attempting to deny equal rights of all of our citizens.
But enough about them. Today is a wonderful day. Not only for the folks in WA state who can now marry, but for all of us. When love wins, we all win. The love that moves us to right the wrongs of injustice and inequality is so much deeper than the romantic love of Valentine’s Day. It is Divine Love, the love of something bigger than ourselves that humbles us helps us to see that we’re all the same. Or as Rumi puts it:
When your chest is free of your limiting ego,
Then you will see the ageless Beloved.
