not going to texas

well, add texas to the list which i know includes virginia and ohio.

texas yesterday passed their version of a gay marriage ban. its wording prohibits the state from “creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

which means that kirk and i, who have legal papers to approximate the legal rights of married couples, cannot go to texas because our papers have been invalidated. read all about it yourself.

one more state added to the list of states in my own country where i, as a taxpaying american citizen, cannot risk going.

aaargh.

i’ve blogged about this before. there are plenty of other rants about this–if you care to find them, do a search. the topline summary of the problem is that by invalidating our legal paperwork, these states make it impossible for kirk and i to travel there. because, for instance, to explain just one of the many problems we could encounter, if kirk got sick i’d have no legal standing to make decisions or even visit him in the hospital.

that’s just one. i’m too depressed to list more.

frankly, there are probably other states besides virginia, ohio, and now texas where this is true, but i’ve never gotten the energy up to find out exactly which other states for which this is true. basically my strategy is to just stay in states where common sense tells me that i am safe. blue states, if you will. although even that’s not a given. i have a sneaking suspicion that oregon would be on the list if i looked into it.

and european countries, of course, are ok for us. we’re ok in france, as long as we steer clear of the rioters.

thankfully, this is the one dark spot i’ve seen in what was otherwise a pretty good election day if you are liberal. democratic governors elected, california ballot initiatives defeated across the board, and even a complete sweep out of office of the dover, pa school board that forced intelligent design into the local schools.

i know, you have to register with the ny times to see that link. but it’s free. at least, to clarify, it costs no money. here’s an excerpt:

“the election results were a repudiation of the first school district in the nation to order the introduction of intelligent design in a science class curriculum. the policy was the subject of a trial in federal district court that ended last friday. a verdict by judge john e. jones iii is expected by early january.

“i think voters were tired of the trial, they were tired of intelligent design, they were tired of everything that this school board brought about,” said bernadette reinking, who was among the winners.”

except, of course, that the ny times used capital letters. they aren’t cool like i am that way.

so, i guess i should be at least semi-thankful, and somewhat elated.

but, to be honest, it’s still a bummer, especially when you consider that, no matter what, we have at least another year of a republican congress and three years of a republican president.

oh god. i’m depressed all over again.