Skye said, "Yeah, Mama. If anyone gives you a hard time, just say, 'My wife likes it this way.'"
Skye reminds me how to be loud and proud. |
I've decided the lesson in that moment was that I have to stop worrying about what the world thinks and make peace with my own corner of the universe. And what a remarkable corner I enjoy. I couldn't help but muse over the irony of that conversation and the fact that we had just enjoyed celebrating our family in the midst of the biggest Gay Pride event in the world, NYC's Pride Parade. For a moment every year, we enjoy how far we have come and celebrate the courage and bravery of millions of LGBT people who have worked tirelessly on our behalf. Our official civil rights movement started with Stonewall in 1969, which was blocks away from where I stood with Skye earlier in the day, waiting to see Donna and Hunter charge past us as part of the NYC Sirens Motorcycle club. That group always leads the parade, and this is the second year Donna has ridden with them, with Hunter proudly sporting a rainbow hairstyle.
The Pride Event this year ended a remarkable week during which DOMA was deemed unconstitutional, allowing LGBT citizens of some states the same constitutional rights that our heterosexual brothers and sisters enjoy. Now, if only Governor Christie would get with the program and allow us to marry, Donna and I would celebrate with a legal marriage. Right now, we have a pseudo-marriage by heterosexual standards are continue to be denied thousands of rights that others take for granted.
And on the day we can finally marry and have it recognized in our home state, I'll wear my hair like David Cassidy, because my wife likes it that way.