Reaction to the Marriage Rulings: Anderson Cooper

Anderson discusses the effect of the rulings with Jeffrey Toobin, Andrew Sullivan, and Evan Wolfson:

What Would Lincoln Do?

Excerpt from an essay by Evan Wolfson, director of Freedom to Marry, on HuffPo:

Abraham Lincoln may have been the first American to write about a same-sex couple getting married. His 1829 poem recounting the marriage of Nate and Billy was "perhaps the most explicit literary reference to actual homosexual relations in 19th century America." Lincoln's most important early biographer, William Herndon, initially included the poem in his Life of Lincoln, but as so often with gay subjects, it was subsequently omitted and largely ignored by later scholars.

Recently there has been greater willingness to debate evidence that our greatest president may himself have had same-sex attraction and even acted on it, as the iconic Lincoln biographer, Carl Sandburg, intimated in 1924 when he wrote of Lincoln's "streaks of lavender." In 2005, C.A. Tripp's Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln marshaled accounts of Lincoln's relations with men such as Captain David Derickson, including a November 1862 diary entry by the wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy that reads, "There is a Bucktail soldier here, devoted to the President, drives with him, and when Mrs. L is not home, sleeps with him. What stuff!" Like other scholars, Tripp explored Lincoln's singularly intimate relationship with Joshua Speed, who told Herndon, "If I had not been married & happy -- far more happy than I ever expected to be -- [Lincoln] would not have married."

But it's not because of Lincoln's sexual orientation or other "stuff" that February 12, Lincoln's birthday, has for 12 years now been the centerpiece of National Freedom to Marry Week. Lincoln's strongest connection to the freedom to marry cause lies in the values he embodied in his life, and embodies in ours. He was committed to equality, freedom, and lifting people up. He called Americans to the "better angels of our nature," and he combined a deep moral integrity with a determined and strategic focus on achieving what is most important and right.

In the wake of last November's Proposition 8 temporarily halting marriages in California, and with marriage equality shimmering within reach in other states such as New York and New Jersey, gay and non-gay people and organizations across the country will spend Freedom to Marry Week asking our fellow citizens to, in Lincoln's words, "think anew" about how exclusion from marriage harms gay families while helping no one. Freedom to Marry Week in this Lincoln bicentennial year recalls his admonition, "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

Note from your Head Trucker: Nothing is proven about Lincoln's sexuality; read the Wikipedia article linked to the title of Tripp's book above for more insight into the speculations. I can testify from personal experience that bed sharing with a friend or relative - either male-male or female-female - was quite an ordinary custom in the Deep South well into my lifetime, if the necessity arose, and nobody thought a thing about it.

For one thing, people weren't nearly as affluent as they are nowadays; folks had much smaller houses and a lot less stuff, including extra beds. For another thing, although people knew there was such a thing as homosexuality, and regarded it as the most perverted, detestable kind of sin, you never ever saw any homosexuals; nobody at all was "out." So the very strong default assumption was that everybody was straight, and thus not even tempted to get queer in the sheets. Nowadays, I suppose people think differently, but that's the way things were until the 1970's, at least.

The reality, of course, is that some people did have gay sex back in the day, but they would have been very, very careful to keep it covered up; to do otherwise would mean your family would disown you, your friends wouldn't speak to you, and you would be liable to be locked up in jail or sent off to an insane asylum. Homosexuality was, let's not forget, officially a sin, a crime, and a mental illness, and society was not at all slow to punish you for all three.

Despite all that, gay love did sometimes bloom in secret - go read up on all Walt Whitman's lovers, for gosh sakes - but even Whitman was ultra-discreet about his sexuality in public (notwithstanding the allusions in his poetry) all his life. It was a very different world, and all the stuff about Lincoln has to be taken in that context. I'd love to know that he was gay, or bi, but - it's all merely speculation yet.

A Lesson in Values

Been looking to find the text of Bp. Robinson's remarks at today's concert, but so far no luck, even on Google. But I did find this comment by Evan Wolfson, director of Freedom to Marry. I'll keep looking for Robinson's words and post them here when they turn up.

President-elect Obama's invitation to Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson to kick off the Inauguration events with an invocation at the Lincoln Memorial is a powerful statement in support of gay people's common humanity and the need to end their exclusion from American law and life. While most likely intending the invitation as a way of addressing the pain and disappointment caused by his selection of Rick Warren, an anti-gay crusader, to pray at the Inaugural, President-elect Obama could have chosen another, less distinctive member of the clergy committed to the values of equality and inclusion he favors and Rick Warren rejects. But instead, President-elect Obama chose Bishop Robinson.

An openly gay man joined in civil union with his life-partner, a strong advocate of the freedom to marry, and a beloved moral hero to millions, including those who know him best, Bishop Robinson is also a world-historical figure. His ministry is at the center of the Episcopal Church's embrace of gay people and stand for inclusion against division in the U.S. and throughout the world. President-elect Obama has sent a strong signal that will resonate around the world: America's inauguration of its new president is commenced and blessed by a welcomed and courageous gay man.

At the same time, signals and statements, invitations and Inaugurations are not as important as actual changes in law and society. The true test of President-elect Obama's leadership and administration will come as he moves to fulfill the promises he has made, including his commitment to secure equality under law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans alongside our non-gay brothers and sisters. The President-elect -- and all of us -- would do well to heed not just Bishop Robinson's invocation on January 18, but his moral witness in his life, to those he inspires, and to his partner and family. Central to this incandescent example is Bishop Robinson's pastoral and personal support for the freedom to marry, true equality under law and in love.

When he stands before Abraham Lincoln's statue to mark a new presidency, Bishop Robinson will provide President-elect Obama, and the nation and world, a lesson in values to light the way forward. Prayer must then be matched by policy.

"The tree is known by his fruit."

Two Ways to Equal Marriage

My apologies to regular Blue Truck readers - it's a very hectic week here with work and Xmas shopping and all. I hope things will settle down soon and I can get back to regular blogging.

It's International Human Rights Day - and also Day Without a Gay. In keeping with all that, here's some very insightful remarks by Evan Wolfson, director of Freedom to Marry:

In his 1963 book, Why We Can't Wait, Martin Luther King reminded us that, "It is an axiom of social change that no revolution can take place without a methodology suited to the circumstances of the period." He wrote, "Direct action [such as peaceful protests and grassroots mobilization] is not a substitute for work in the courts and the halls of government... Indeed, direct action and legal action complement one another; when skillfully employed, each becomes more effective."

Leaders of established organizations who resist welcoming new energy, new creativity, new involvement make a mistake. We need more people speaking to more people; as I've written in my book, Why Marriage Matters, and elsewhere, it is conversations -- person to person, group to group -- over time that creates the needed climate for true social and legal change for justice.

Likewise, people now stepping up to, or stepping up their, involvement make a mistake if they don't work to connect their engagement to the tasks that will result in the legal change sought. We need more people to break the silence and make the case, not just with the most hard-core opponents but with friendly people and even our own as well as the reachable-but-not-yet-reached. And we need to connect those conversations and the change in hearts and minds they bring to the actual ways in which law changes.

When all is said and done, for instance, there are only two ways to undo Proposition 8 and restore the freedom to marry in California: creating a climate that enables the California Supreme Court to do the right thing and strike it down, or continuing to build public support in order to prevail on a new ballot measure, perhaps in 2010 or 2012. Meanwhile, non-gay and gay people can have these important conversations about who gay people are and why marriage matters in all 50 states, and win the freedom to marry in several other states that are now poised to end discrimination.

Those truly committed to change, whether through "new" methodologies or "old," will shed complacency or negativity and do their parts -- and find ways to work together to bring that change sooner. All of Dr. King's "methodologies of social change" remain as needed and relevant today; what we need is not just "new," it's more.

Marriage Maps

Honk to Evan Wolfson's great site, Freedom to Marry, for these maps of the marriage situation in these United States as it stands today, November 16, 2008:

We have our work cut out for us, folks, as you can see. For comparison, here's one more map showing the marriage situation before the Loving vs. Virginia decision in 1967: