Monday, January 5, 2015

Love, Marriage, Ray Guns And Space Cowboys

Good god. Chaos has ensued but since Jason just took the boys home, peace reigns again. It was just one of those days. The chickens kept running out into the road. Bug came by with some of Kathleen's plants and some AWESOME, COOL, REALLY LOUD RAY GUNS THAT LIGHT UP!
There were some space cowboys around here for several hours. And let me just say that neither chickens nor goats like ray guns. Cats don't either. Not really. When Owen asked me if they could take the ray guns home I said, "YES! Yes you can!"
On the way out of the house, Space Cowboy Gibson fell on the steps and cut his lip. I hope it was his lip and not a tooth. He wouldn't let us look. I gave him some ice cubes in a washcloth for the ride home and told him it was a "super magic boo-boo healer." He did not look like he believed me.
In the midst of all of this, Boppy came home and packed to leave for auction.

Maurice had a rough day too, in that she and Luna had a huge standoff this morning in the yard and then quite the noisy skirmish and she's been trying to sit on my lap ever since. Which is highly unusual for her. She even let Gibson pet her for a moment.

But, in very good news, the state of Florida has started issuing same-sex marriage licenses in one county, I believe, and actual marriages have taken place. The whole state is supposed to start issuing the licenses tomorrow. There are still some die-hard, dick-head homophobes clinging to the cliff by their ripped and bloody fingernails however, who refuse to accept this and are still fighting it. Some counties have taken the step of saying that yes, they will issue licenses but all courthouse marriages in their counties are now going to end. So- yes. Justice for all. Gay or straight, you can't get married in the courthouse in those particular counties.
However, I just read this on the Facebook.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has a special message for all loving couples living in counties that have ended courthouse marriage ceremonies:
"At midnight tonight, most of the state of Florida will take a collective step towards complete equality by affording people the right to marry whomever they choose. I am disheartened, however, by the decision of several counties around Florida to discontinue the opportunity for people to have courthouse marriage ceremonies. In light of these unfortunate announcements, I would like to extend an invitation to the loving couples of Duval, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Baker, Clay, Pasco, Holmes, Washington, Jackson, Calhoun, Liberty, Franklin, and Wakulla Counties to hold their marriage ceremonies here in the Capital City. I hope that this issue reminds us that love is never wrong, and that equality must continue to be a part of the progress we work to drive in our community, our state, and in our country. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ‘The time is always right to do what is right.'"
So, it's a bit of a tossed salad in the great state of Florida and when hasn't it been? We are the strangest mix of ethnicities, cultures, beliefs, and even geographical areas you can imagine. We are Miami and we are Monticello. We are the Everglades and we are Disney World. We are pythons and cougars and cattle and great swaths of land owned by Mormons. We are agricultural, we are urban as shit. We are redneck and we are the pearl-draped hoity-toity. We are intellectuals and we are dead-set-in-our-ways Evangelical Christians. We are Scientology and we are Primitive Baptist. We are Buddhists, atheists, Muslims, Episcopalians, Pagans, Druids, Wiccans, Satan worshipers and AME. We are drag queens and we are snake handlers. We are umpteenth generation Floridian and Yankee snowbirds. We are the coolest, hippest nightclubs in existence and we are juke joints hidden so deep in the woods your GPS can't find them. We are Key West and we are Dog Island. We are meth, coke, weed, sweet iced tea, Miller Lite, and Jack and Coke. We are rivers of highways and highways of rivers. We are palm trees and centuries-old live oaks. We are hibiscus and camellias. We are haute cuisine and we are fried mullet and raw oysters. We live in mansions and little pink houses for you and me. We are the descendants of slaves and slave-owners, escaped criminals, patrician Palm Beachers and the only Native American tribe in the entire USA who never signed a damn treaty with the government. 
They don't need no stinking treaty! 
You want to know how crazy we are? Google "florida man." Just check out the images. Hell, just google Rick Scott, our governor. 
So it's no wonder that our counties can't get it together when it comes to gay marriage and I'm a little astounded we've come this far. 
As a friend of ours used to say, "It's all part of the glorious and colorful tapestry of life!" 
Amen. 
I send great good wishes of congratulations to all of the folks who got married today, be they gay or straight. Marriage has worked out very well for me and I would like to think it could work well for others. I've also had a marriage that didn't work out well if you define "well" as lasting forever but it worked out wonderfully well if you define it as having produced some stellar human beings and resulting in life-long friendship. We all have the right to follow our hearts in love and in marriage and we all have the right to register at Target and wear flowers in our hair or on our jacket or carry them in our hands and stand up and say with as much love and conviction as we can manage, "I do!" We all have the right to look into the eyes of the person we love as we slip a ring on their finger. We all have a right to proclaim our union and be protected by laws which ensure each and every couple equal legal rights. 
Well, that's what I say.
It's getting cold, babies. Cuddle up. Elvis has two hens in the roosting nest with him. Tomorrow, he may have three. 
And if you want a courthouse marriage, Leon County in Florida has you covered. 
Love...Ms. Moon





13 comments:

  1. Sometimes I just wish your posts had a 'love' button, because it's too hard to encapsulate the warmth they make me feel in a comment.

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  2. When I googled "Florida man," I learned about a drunk Florida man who used a taco as a form of ID at a Taco Bell. Yup.

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  3. Jo- Thank you, my sweet Irish Lady Friend.

    Elizabeth- You've barely scratched the surface of the insanity.

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  4. You are a word artist, my othermother :) It is indeed a happy day for Florida!

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  5. OMG. Total Chaos.
    And that is the best description of Florida I could ever imagine. The state ought to pay you for it.
    Mary Moon for governor or something'!

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  6. And the congregation said, AMEN!
    This was just beautiful.

    Your description of Florida is poetic and reminds me of all the reasons it is such a compelling place. I lived in Key West from 6 weeks to 3 yrs old, Dad was in the Navy, I've vacationed there all my life and nothing would make me happier than for us to retire there in the next few years. I love Florida and this progressive move toward dignity & marriage equality for all makes me love it more. My sad, backwards home state of Mississippi will surely be the last for such changes.
    Now if Florida will just get it together and get those marijuana laws changed...

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  7. Amazing description of Florida. You can by golly write.

    I wonder what the rationale was for some courthouses to end performing marriages, gay or otherwise. Is it a backhanded way of making it harder for gays to marry despite the change in law? Because it's got to be harder for gay couples to find a church to marry in than it is for other couples. I'm not as informed as I'd like to be about the different state laws in the US (Canadian here). Would welcome your thoughts, Mary, or anyone's.

    Space guns - lol - I bet their parents are "thanking" you for those :)

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  8. I love your description of Florida, particularly "rivers of highways and highways of rivers." That says it all!

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  9. Dear Ms Moon,
    After reading your most amazing "We are Florida" I must ask: Do you, by chance, have and acre or two of swampland for sale? If so, consider it SOLD! To two old lesbians from the Fly Over. Preach, sister, preach.

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  10. SJ- And today marriages took place all over the state! Hurray!

    Denise- I would no more be governor than I would wear a corset. As in...never.
    You're a sweetie.

    Angie D- What a wonderful place to have lived as a little child! Although, as you know, it is very much changed.
    Those pesky dope laws will change too, one of these days. This, too, is inevitable.

    Jenny o- There was no doubt about why those counties stopped doing courthouse marriages. They did not want to perform same-sex ceremonies. So. No one gets married at their courthouses. What crap!

    Angella- Hugging you very much back.

    Steve Reed- And it's true, isn't it?

    Lain T- Ha! Nope. No swampland for sale. We're keeping all the swamp we got. Which is actually, some. Ha! But the house next door to me is for sale...

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  11. I have seen some parts of Florida that I really like. But the politics are about as insane as this ignorant state that I live in.

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