Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Dear Mr. President
Artist: P!nk
Album: I'm Not Dead (2006)

It's no secret that I love P!nk. Love her. Insanely. She's forever awesome in my eyes.

Songs like this are a big reason why.

While mainstream radio blares catchy, funny tracks like "Stupid Girls" and "So What?" - both songs I find entertaining but tire of fairly quickly - not many people seem to realize that the spunky girl with the sometimes pink hair has some very important things to say in her songs from time to time.

While this track is pointed straight for George W. Bush, there are aspects of it that can use questions that should resonate with all of us. Though most of us haven't "come a long way from whiskey and cocaine," there are loads of issues brought up in this song that each and every one of us can spend a little time thinking about.

War, homosexuality, abortion / reproductive rights and homelessness all come up in the song, all with thought-provoking questions attached to them.

Part of why I chose this song today stems from a link my man Deuce sent me yesterday. It was of Jon Stewart interviewing former Arkansas Governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee and discussing same sex marriages.

My feelings on this issue have been stated a couple times in the past here at iBlog, so without getting to far into it, it just baffles me that there are still people who have these cast-iron beliefs and views about poignant issues like this and the ones P!nk addresses in this song.

I'm not saying we all have to have the same views and they have to be the ones that I believe, but I think we're at a stage in our existence as a people that being close-minded and so stringently opposed to issues like these is ridiculous.

Now that I'm off my soapbox, click the link, listen to the song and enjoy.

I promise, next week will be some harmlessly fun Hip Hop track with very little soapbox preaching from me...

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Just When You Think We're Moving Forward...

You read that California voted Yes on Proposition 8 yesterday, reversing the legalization of Gay Marriage in the state.

I'm warning you now - if you don't like this issue and don't want to hear what I have to say, come back tomorrow, because I'm livid right now after reading this and need to jump on my soapbox and rant...

Personally, a law like this is an absolute joke to me, especially coming on the heels of the monumental achievement of Barack Obama's election last night. The election of the first Black President is something they will teach in history classes until the end of time, as I said yesterday, and now I hope that the archaic beliefs about sexuality and the institution of marriage held by 52% of voters in the State of California (and all other homophobes throughout the world) can be the next major change.

Honestly, what gives any other person the right to say who can and cannot be married? And how can you make it illegal for two men or two women or two transgendered individuals to get married? Illegal. Two dudes who love each other getting married is now against the law... same as murder and theft and selling crack.

Those in favour of this newly passed bullshit cling to the notion that marriage is at the "fundamental core of how society is organized" and that marriage should be "between a man and a woman" to "establish a family unit."

Where do I begin?

First, claiming that marriage is at the fundamental core of how society is organized is ridiculous. If marriage truly is the fundamental core of how society is organized, why do we allow people to enter into marriage flippantly and have a divorce rate hovering around 50%? This isn't my grandparents era where marriage truly was a lifetime commitment and the core of the family unit. I would wager everyone knows ten people who either are divorced themselves or have parents who are divorced, unlike even when I was a kid and I knew one kid and it was a big deal.

As for the second part - "between a man and a woman" - you've got to be kidding me. What in the name of all things holy is the difference between two men being in love with each other and willing to commit themselves to one another and a man and woman doing the same? The answer is nothing, accept that homophobic and fundamentalist belief that being gay is not acceptable continue to exist in large numbers in our world.

Harsh as this sounds, I always think about what someone who helped passed this law would do if their child came to them with a same sex partner. Then what do they do? Do you cast aside your child because of your beliefs or do you cast aside your beliefs because it's different now that it affects you personally? I count myself lucky because I will never have to make that decision. Gay, straight, bi or whatever - my kids are my kids and they can be whoever they want to be with the knowledge that they will be loved unconditionally.

The final little blip from the LA Times piece that marriage is about "establishing a family unit" is also faulty on numerous levels.

One - not all married couples have kids. Some can't, some choose not to, some just don't get around to it.

Two - why is a man and a woman adopting and "establishing a family unit" that way any different than two women doing the same? Again, it's not.

Three - all that matters, really, in the establishment of a family unit is love. Two dads, two moms, two dads and two moms or one of each, as long as those parents love their child and do everything in their power to provide for them, that is the only thing anyone should truly care about.

Beyond being an issue about marriage, this is an issue about human rights.

Because you're gay you're not allowed to get married?

How in the fuck can anyone say that is just and how is it any different than saying because you're a woman you can't do this or because you're Latino you can't do that?

I'd love to hear the difference between the two because to me there aren't any and I look forward to the day when who you choose to love is no longer an issue.

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