Rights and Privileges

Here's what almost happened to us yesterday, a day so clear the local Chamber of Commerce could have taken a picture and used it for a postcard.David and I were in the car,  happy and talking, as he rounded the corner just a half a mile from our house.  That’s when the truck from a side street pulled out into the oncoming lane – only he swung too wide, jumped the yellow line and was heading straight  for us.  David swerved sharply, pulling us out if his path. We just had time to see the look of sheer terror on his face as he rocketed on past.He did not hit us, though it occurred to me that if he had, we would have fit  what the statistics show to be the classic profile for your typical motor vehicle accident: Broad daylight. Dry pavement. Less than five miles from home. He did not hit us.But if he had hit us and if David had been grievously injured and lay unconscious at the hospital, as his wife I would be instantly recognized as his next of kin and been granted all the right and privileges  pertaining thereunto.But this post isn’t about a near-miss car accident.This post is about marriage and how unfair it surely does seem to me that same-sex couples in the vast majority of these 50  states are denied the right to marry.I won’t go on here but will  just invite you instead to click on the 'Play' icon below and see how you feel when watch these couples in Asheville North Carolina being turned away, however kindly, when they come to the  Buncombe County Register of Deeds office to ask for a marriage license. It’s true this was an intentional gathering and that they knew there would be cameras. But just note the quickly suppressed expressions of sorrow on their faces when that “not you!” judgment is once again made about them. Just look and listen, especially to the voice of the woman in her mid-60s. I expected to feel only anger at the inequity of these laws watching this video.  Instead, I found myself sobbing:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP61wDGAmXA]