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In Celebration of Gay Marriage

In Celebration of Gay Marriage

How appropriate that I sit down here on Independence Day to write about freedom and right to marry for ALL.
There is no doubt that one of, if not the major issue for our community currently is the gay marriage issue. It is galvanizing us as a community not only across this country but also across the world. I haven’t seen a movement like this for us since the early days of the AIDS epidemic when once again we found as a community that we had to band together to get the politicians and the world to notice that something terrible was going on. And here we have a terrible injustice going on, people won’t let us be, to recognize our love, the love that is the same as any love between two people.
How victorious was the ruling in New York (my hometown!) two weeks ago and how I hope that we start to see the ball rolling from state to state. There was an interesting article in the New York Times on how the Gay Marriage Bill was finally passed. In the article it explained how the political machine was working behind the scenes along with the governor of New York, members of HRC and perhaps most importantly gay-rights activist groups that merged together to push for same sex marriage, forming a single coalition. When the vote came through the same weekend as New York Pride (and San Francisco Pride) the Empire State Building was lit up with the colors of the Rainbow Flag. It was a joyful and proud sight to behold.
And here in California we wait. Considered to be the most liberal state in the union it amazes me that we are still in the fight. Perhaps we need to look to New York to make it happen. Perhaps we need a governor like Andrew Cuomo who took a stand to say to his fellow politicians, “Their love is worth the same as your love, their partnerships are worth the same as your partnerships. And they are equal in your eyes to you. That is the driving issue.”
When all is said and done, I adamantly believe that passing gay marriage will not change a thing in anyone else’s life except for the two people who chose to love each other and get married. Having gay marriage be legal will not affect the neighbor who opposed it one bit. Life will go on….
I look forward to the future, 15 or 20 years from now when I will hear a young gay man or woman say to their friends, “Can you believe there was a time when we weren’t allowed to marry?” And I will smile.

Gary Saperstein is a transplanted New Yorker, living and thriving in Wine Country. Working in the restaurant business and focusing on hospitality for most of his “so called” adult life he has now started “Out In The Vineyard,” a Wine Country Tour and Event company marketing the LGBT community. It is his goal to make Wine Country a destination for his community with a chance of getting a date along the way.