Beren deMotier * writer * artist * human
Same-Sex Marriage
They Can’t Take This Away From Me
copyright March. 2004 Beren deMotier
"I was married in the morning. There were no rose petals to walk on. No bridesmaids all in a row. No dress I’d spent six months searching for, and then another three having buyer’s regret over. No mothers-in-law bickered before our big day. In fact, I went down the aisle holding a toddler and said vows covered in cracker crumbs.
It was a great day."
To read the entire article, click on the following: They Can't Take This Away From Me
The First Wedding Anniversary
copyright Feb. 26, 2005
"On March 3rd, the wife and I will have been married one year. Never mind that on December 26th we celebrated eighteen years together (by going to dinner at my mother’s of all things!?), and we’ve seen a lot of anniversaries come and go.
But this one is special.
I must admit that it has been both the pinnacle of joy, and bitterly painful, to have been married last March amid the support and disdain of a bipolar nation. When we got the call last year that told us Multnomah County had opened the door to same-sex marriage, we didn’t hesitate for a moment. We wanted to be legally married, not just for the hundreds of legal benefits marriage offers (which we assumed we wouldn’t get to enjoy), but because as members of a community we wanted the recognition, symbolism and celebration that marriage offers."
To read the entire article, please click on the following: The First Wedding Anniversary
The Political is also Personal
"You can’t go anywhere in Portland these days without the subject of gay marriage coming up. For the last three weeks, our county has been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and another county in Oregon has announced it will do the same starting this week. It is in the news. It is on the brain. But sometimes I feel like screaming, “This is not an intellectual exercise people!”"
To read the entire article, click on the following: personalisalsopolitical
Employee Recommended Argument
"I just came from Barnes and Noble where I was taking a child-free moment to cruise the aisles, lingering deliciously over the novels, stopping at attention grabbing titles that had little to do with the contents inside, and finding myself in the Gay & Lesbian section checking out the new volumes on same-sex marriage. There were four thick volumes hot off the presses. And beneath one of them, Jonathan Rauch’s Gay Marriage, Why it is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America was an “employee recommended” card, giving a twenty percent discount off that title. When I looked closer I saw that on the card was written, “Queers should be able to screw up this institution too” signed Nick."
To read the entire article, click on the following: Employee Recommended Argument
The Future Fifth Grade Play
"It was our daughter’s third grade play the other night. The third grade play at our school is a combination of history, social studies and music written by a visiting artist who is paid with money earned by an event wherein all the children run around the block and get pledges based on how many laps they run, or, in some cases, nice tidy lump sums. There tend to be a few skinned knees, but it works, since without it there is no arts program, and as the whole country learned last year thanks to Doonesbury, we in Oregon barely have a school budget…
That’s a whole other issue."
To read the entire article, click on the following: Future Fifth Grade Play