Standing in a Line of Lesbians

The Artist D

I went to the marriage license office this week. My business there was for non-marriage business as I’ve bought that t-shirt already and do not need another. There was quite the surprise when I got there as I got to stand behind a long line of lesbians! These women ranged throughout our favorite stereotypes and were all there to get married. Last in that line standing in front of me was a heterosexual couple. What I found most fascinating about this brief encounter with social studies is how excited the gay couples were compared to the straight one.

As I stood there staring at everyone and taking in this monumental vision of American history I couldn’t help but feel I was looking at one of those evolution charts. You know the kind where it shows man from monkey? Only this chart showed one of the many evolutions of man (and woman). We can now marry each other in most of the United States and people are clearly taking the government up on the offer. A whole lot of gay people who really want to get married are getting married. What I had to wonder was what are those straight people in the back there for?

Dressed shabbily in their dirty blue jeans, flip-flops and t-shirts you would have thought they were going to a baseball game instead of getting married. The comparison was stark as each gay couple was dressed presentably in pant suits, dresses or other such clothes that imply you give a shit about what is going on. I’m sure that every couple there was going to do an official ceremony later, but this spoke volumes as even the act of getting the license is important to the gay contingent vs. the other.

As we got closer to the front of the line I watched lesbian couple after lesbian couple excitedly file their paperwork. When the heterosexual couple approached the counter it was the female half whom rudely,  with a roll of the eyes, ever so carelessly said, “Yeah, we’re here about the license. I called you this morning. No I didn’t bring the paperwork. My dumb husband-to-be lost it so we need to fill it out again …” Oh, the display of wedded bliss this pair exuded. I watched in utter fascination as they filled out the papers like they were about to have a physical examination for Ebola.

It’s light and day what happens when you have access to something for awhile. The straight folks make it look as if they’ve taken marriage for granted. They get married and unmarried all the time. It’s what they’re supposed to do. It’s why they line up in flip-flops and Homer Simpson tee’s to seal the deal on “the most important day of their lives.” It’s just another made up thing to do on the checklist of life.

Standing in that line at the marriage license office reminded me of one thing that makes me happy for the strides in the LGBTQ (A B C D E F…) community. Society may have kept their rights from them but in the end it back fired, because Homer and Marge are unhappily married while Adam and Steve are freaking stoked. They put the “happily” back in married because it’s shiny new. And I’m freaking stoked for them!

Tags: featured, gay marriage, lgbtq, love, rights, theartistd

Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Opinion