I don't know if I have any readers in California, but I couldn't let this pass without mentioning it. When you go to the polls, I ask you to vote "No" on proposition 8, which will revoke the right for same sex couples to marry in California. Arizona, Arkansas, and Florida also have measures up for vote that will enshrine discrimination in the law. You can find out more at Marriage Equality's site.

Becky and I were already engaged when I went to San Francisco for a conference. On February 20, 2004, I went down to City Hall to see all the hullabaloo that was happening because Gavin Newsom had mandated that City Hall give out marriage licenses to same sex couples. I ran into some old friends who were standing in line, so I waited with them in order to be their witness. That Friday, they started giving out appointments instead of doing the weddings on a first-come, first-served basis. Everyone who was in line that day got the first pick of appointments.

I called Becky and blurted out, "I'm in line at City Hall, and there are five people in front of me, and they're giving out appointments, and do you want to come to San Francisco and get married?"

So she borrowed money from a good friend of ours and flew across the country to marry me on Monday, February 23, 2004. They annulled those marriages four months later.  This year the California Supreme Court said that barring same sex couple from marrying was discriminatory, forcing the state to allow same sex marriages.  So we flew back to San Francisco and did it again on July 25 of this year. If Proposition 8 passes, I guess I'll have to marry Becky again somewhere else.

I'd rather not. I'd really rather that other people stop divorcing me from my wife without my consent. Churches who have religious objections don't need to worry. They'll still have every right (a right that I affirm) to refuse to marry people like us. I want to have full rights as a citizen. I want the rights and the responsibilities of civil marriage.

I leave you with a completely awesome video by Vienna Teng. Her voice is amazing. Becky and I both cried when we heard this song, because it so represents the way we felt that day in City Hall.