Taking deep breath in the middle of the storm

Today was a weird day. I started out my day, after a great nights sleep, by going to my usual place for Saturday morning breakfast (I'm a creature of habit). It was nice because when we went through the door, the owners said, "We were waiting for you to get here. We have over 100 people coming this morning for Valentines Day and we remembered to save a place for Bill and Kent." I was flattered, but more than that, I felt like I had a sense of family. It was nice.

We finished breakfast, came home, and I did odd jobs around the house. Occasionally, I would go on line and do a bit of web surfing. It was a bit disconcerting to me to see what is happening all over the world. I look on the internet, and I see gay couples getting married in San Francisco, Canada, Australia, and many other places on the planet. I'm proud of my community. With everything happening in the United States with gay marriage, we tend to think that everything that has happened is because of the recent events in Massachusetts. Whatever started all of this, gay couples are getting married all over the world. I had no idea it was this wide spread. Did we start this, or was it going to happen anyway? I know it sounds arrogant for me to ask that since we in the United States tend to think that we are the center of the universe, but I hadn't heard of this happening before.

I realize just how small this planet is. I also know what happens to the human animal when it gets desperate. And I think many in society are getting to the point of desperation in their quest to "save marriage" from us. I'm talking about those who will do anything to "defend marriage". I don't know how far they will go, but I think they can see that the direction of this battle is not favoring them.

Kent and I made a decision today. We are going to do what we believe in. We have decided that we will be going to our town clerk and requesting an application for a marriage license. We live in a very small town. We will be refused an application and turned away, I'm sure. I sent a notice to the Hartford Courant, the largest newspaper in the state, letting them know our intentions so they could cover the story, if they desire. That is up to them. We will be following through with our plans. Of course, I will let you all know what happens.

After being turned away, we haven't decided what we will do next. We have a few options I suppose. One would be to drop it and let it go. One would be to sit on it and be an example of a gay couple who was turned away, when and if this issue is ever taken seriously by the legislature of Connecticut. We've been told "any year now" for the last five years. The final option would be to take legal action against the State of Connecticut. Of course, if we were to do that, it would depend on our ability to find a lawyer who would actually take up our cause.

As much as I would like to do what I think is right and pursue legal action against my state, this is no small feat. It takes a lot of time, money, probably more energy than I have, and the possibility of a direct backlash against us. If the media covers it, we will be in the open. I don't know how we feel about that. It will take courage. Will we have the same conviction as Rosa Parks, who finally refused to sit in the back of the bus? Did it take courage to stand up to injustice and say "ENOUGH!"?

Absolutely. It took extraordinary courage.