Not full citizens.

• Author: Clinton, Kate
• Position: Gay marriage in United States

The New York Court of Appeals exhibited classic, pre-9/11 thinking in its ruling that the state constitution does not permit gay couples to marry--9/11 B.C. The court's majority referenced sexual preference rather than sexual orientation. They "reasoned" that since same-sex parents don't have children by "accident or impulse," gay parenting is unhealthy for children. This is not a decision. This is a cry for help.

Or maybe they are really just protecting gay couples from the horror that is marriage? Is this the new "closeted tolerance"? I'm not a lawyer, but the court's brief made so little sense, I began to worry that my worst fears had been realized. Is it possible that the Domino's Pizza School of Law has graduated its first class and is already fast-tracking them onto the state's highest bench?

Please note that commentators on the cable shows did not sneer endlessly that these are activist judges. No, the New York Court of Appeals was just doing the right thing.

Since the decision in our so-called liberal state, I've been trying to rally my fellow gay New Yorkers. Because we are apparently not full citizens of our Empire State, I think we should jaywalk whenever we want. Decline to do jury duty. And I don't think gay people should pay taxes. A friend pointed out that they put people in jail for not paying taxes. Au contraire, I said, neither the tax cheats nor their corporations do time, except on golfing junkets.

In the face of the horrors in the Mideast, my plaint can sound like queer-quibbling, even to me. But recent rulings in New York, California, and Washington State not only make gay people morally expendable. They also have very real life consequences, even in Massachusetts, the home of gay marriage.

On June 26, 2006, my good friend Eric Roles died suddenly in Provincetown. Each day, it becomes clearer what a huge loss his death is for the gay community. Eric, almost fifty-two, organizer, educator, historian, sex radical, feminist...