caffeine diary

[Poll #1363939]

A meme was born in Icarus's journal. I don't usually participate this kind of meme, but this one has a "why" clause and that makes it automatically better. Meme origin.

If you're religious and support gay marriage, then paste this meme in your LJ.

I am [insert religion here] and I support gay marriage.

Why? Because... [answer].

I am Christian, and I support gay marriage.

Why? Because I'm a lesbian. Because my pastor is a lesbian, my mentors and role models and heroes growing up were lesbians, because [redacted family members for public post, but there are a lot of them] are lesbians, because growing up, I never saw any division between religious folks and glbt folks, because the first six and ten and a dozen glbt people I knew were not only Christians but serious, church-going, seminary-attending, preacher-wanna-bes.

I say this over and over again because Icarus is right -- NOT all religious people --- not all Christians -- are socially conservative. There are glbt Christians. I'm one of them, and I know many of them, and there's not a contradiction there. I declared my lesbianism before I declared my Christianity, and in some ways it's more central to my identity, but both are so important to me, to how I struture my political and social thought.

So. As a USian citizen, I support equality marriage because of all the rights and privileges given to married couples. Because many GLB people choose assimilation, and civil marriage is a powerful normalizing sign. Because I'm glad that [redacted family members] are legally married and I want every same-sex couple all across the country and the world to have those same rights. It's a justice issue, and as a Christian, I believe in justice.

As a Christian, I believe in marriage because I believe in making promises before God. I'm not quite clear in my head on pre-marital sex, and have engaged in it once or twice myself (*g*) but marriage is a different level of commitment, a different level of responsibility, an accountability to which people in all kinds of relationships should be held if they choose.

If my girlfriend and I, who've been together for five years, continue to be together, I'd like us to be able to decide together whether we want to make our commitment formal. I know that I would want to make such a commitment before God and my church family. I am so, so fortunate that I've been involved with churches and ministers who would absolutely be willing to facilitate that commitment, to know that, regardless of civil inequalities and injustices, it would be possible for me to be married in my eyes, in my partner's eyes, in my parents' eyes, and in God's eyes, which is all that ultimately matters.

[Cameron, Ann/Paula, Caleb, Mac, Joss, tWW support staff (spoiler-free, Elizabeth), River.]

( these were a lot of fun )

And one for me:
Five elements that would be present in My Ideal TV Show:
1. Written by Joss.
2. Featuring Allison Janney.
3. About gifted teenagers.
4. Set in an apocalyptic future, or possibly in space (OR BOTH).
5. People are very good at their jobs, except when they become too emotionally invested, and then people die.


I'd love to hear your answers to that last one! (For your own ideal TV shows. Obviously. ALthough if you wanted to point out something obvious I've missed for mine, that would be okay too.)

And with that, I'm off! See you on Thursday! (NGIP)

"Silence gives consent, or a horrible feeling that nobody's listening."-- Franklin P. Jones

My monitor is sporting clips from church bulletins, and one of them says, "Forgive us, God of unrelenting mercy," and that is, at this moment, the memory I need to hold in my heart. unrelenting mercy. Self-hatred is a lie because God is Love, infinite, illogical, impossible, and completely overpowering.

I'm going to a SOULS meeting tonight, the first one I've attended since fall of my freshman year, and I'm going to do my best to be fully present in the room. I am not seeking inspiration for a story or a poem; I am going there to be part of my community on campus. I will go, and I will go happily.

And then I will go to sleep.