It's not very often that I will compare Great Britian and California and find California to be lacking. Badly lacking.
Normally I am to be heard wailing melodramatically about the English weather, the lack of sunshine and warmth; the food, the curiously reticent nature of the native inhabitants, the over-crowding, the long dark winters and the lack of space in my house and garden. All of these elements of life in the Unkited Kingdom continue to grate on me even now, thirty years after I first arrived.
But today the tables have turned, and when I look at California today I feel ashamed and hurt. I realise that I've been nurturing all these fond childhood memories of coziness and long summers playing in the sand pit. But much has changed.
Voters in California yesterday were part of an extraordinary national movement that acheived a goal that a few decades ago would have been considered unimaginable - the election of a black man to the presidency of the United Sates.
But at the same time, Californians were voting on the controversial "Proposition Eight" - a legal movement to ban gay couples from getting married.
That something like this could even have been suggested in the first place is deeply offensive to me. It is an embarrasingly retrograde step, as California had earlier this year sanctioned gay marriage, following a Supreme Court ruling.
Now, this is where Great Britain shows itself to be morally superior to my old country, in a way that I find quite unsettling after so many years of Britain-Bashing on my part. In December 2005 the British Government made it legal for gay couples to enter into what is called a civil partnership, which secures for gay people the same legal rights enjoyed by hetero-sexual couples getting married.
For example - if one partner dies before the other, the survivor will be treated like a 'regular' married partner in the event of there being no will. Surviving partners inherit automatically. Social Security and pension rights will be the same as for hetero marriages, as will parental responsibility for a partner's children (thank God). There are also safeguards for same-sex couples in regard to immigration applications, income-related tax benefits, and responsibility for child support (if the partnership is dissolved). Crucuially, civil partners may jointly apply to adopt children.
In point of fact, here in Great Britain the laws are SO exhaustively inclusive and fair, that you do not have to be gay or lesbian to enter into a civil partnership. You must be unrelated by blood and over the age of 16 years. That's all.
Although technically civil partnership ceremonies cannot be conducted in a place of worship, in practice many same-sex unions receive a church blessing and there is even a same-sex liturgy. 'Blessings' are commonly used by heterosexual couples where one of the parties is divorced. David and I were told we could not marry in church because of his divorcee status - not that I would have wanted to, not in a million years. But still, it rankled that we were being discriminated against.
That California (and also Florida and Arizona) should give and then take away a couple's fundamental human rights in this manner is profoundly shocking to me and makes me ashamed of my heritage for the very first time that I can ever remember.
Normally I am to be heard wailing melodramatically about the English weather, the lack of sunshine and warmth; the food, the curiously reticent nature of the native inhabitants, the over-crowding, the long dark winters and the lack of space in my house and garden. All of these elements of life in the Unkited Kingdom continue to grate on me even now, thirty years after I first arrived.
But today the tables have turned, and when I look at California today I feel ashamed and hurt. I realise that I've been nurturing all these fond childhood memories of coziness and long summers playing in the sand pit. But much has changed.
Voters in California yesterday were part of an extraordinary national movement that acheived a goal that a few decades ago would have been considered unimaginable - the election of a black man to the presidency of the United Sates.
But at the same time, Californians were voting on the controversial "Proposition Eight" - a legal movement to ban gay couples from getting married.
That something like this could even have been suggested in the first place is deeply offensive to me. It is an embarrasingly retrograde step, as California had earlier this year sanctioned gay marriage, following a Supreme Court ruling.
Now, this is where Great Britain shows itself to be morally superior to my old country, in a way that I find quite unsettling after so many years of Britain-Bashing on my part. In December 2005 the British Government made it legal for gay couples to enter into what is called a civil partnership, which secures for gay people the same legal rights enjoyed by hetero-sexual couples getting married.
For example - if one partner dies before the other, the survivor will be treated like a 'regular' married partner in the event of there being no will. Surviving partners inherit automatically. Social Security and pension rights will be the same as for hetero marriages, as will parental responsibility for a partner's children (thank God). There are also safeguards for same-sex couples in regard to immigration applications, income-related tax benefits, and responsibility for child support (if the partnership is dissolved). Crucuially, civil partners may jointly apply to adopt children.
In point of fact, here in Great Britain the laws are SO exhaustively inclusive and fair, that you do not have to be gay or lesbian to enter into a civil partnership. You must be unrelated by blood and over the age of 16 years. That's all.
Although technically civil partnership ceremonies cannot be conducted in a place of worship, in practice many same-sex unions receive a church blessing and there is even a same-sex liturgy. 'Blessings' are commonly used by heterosexual couples where one of the parties is divorced. David and I were told we could not marry in church because of his divorcee status - not that I would have wanted to, not in a million years. But still, it rankled that we were being discriminated against.
That California (and also Florida and Arizona) should give and then take away a couple's fundamental human rights in this manner is profoundly shocking to me and makes me ashamed of my heritage for the very first time that I can ever remember.
3 comments:
Yes, I was simultaneously proud and ashamed by my fellow countrymen Tuesday. What kills me is this impression of California as being so very Liberal, when obviously that is not always the case. :(
Yeah, I voted against the dispicable prop 8, and demonstrated outside south coast plaza in the days leading up to the election. I'm not gay, just feel that it is wrong to descriminate against certain people. Spotted my neighbor there, had no idea her son was gay. One day we will get past this and make it right.
I voted against the dispicable prop 8, and demonstrated outside south coast plaza mall with hundreds of others in the days leading up to the election. I'm not gay, just think we should not discriminate against certain groups of people. Spotted my neighbor there, had no idea her son was gay. It was a sad day for California when it actually passed. Thanks to the mormon church and their millions of dollars in advertising. Sad too that so many of the voters who said yes to prop 8 were african americans. I think we will one day turn the corner on this one.
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