A Dweam Within A Dweam

 You gotta respect marriage. It's the law. 

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, granting federal protections to same-sex and interracial couples, and marking a milestone in the decades-long fight for marriage equality.

There was a celebration at the White House. People sang. And danced. They hugged one another. The president's Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, stood behind his boss as he made things official. Marriage equality is now the law of the land. Pete's husband and millions of spouses around the country breathed a sigh of relief. The LGBTQ+ community took a victory lap around the White House lawn. Rainbow lights lit up the columns of The People's House. 

And for a moment, all people could relax and take comfort in the ones they love. They could enjoy the safety and protection of a federal law, not just Madison Avenue cranking out the periodic inference that the couple on that ad might be gay. All is calm. All is bright.

But just north of Whoville, the Grinches and the Scrooges and Proud Boys are already fomenting dissent. On Faux News, Laura Ingraham was pushing her angry agenda. "Joe Biden held kind of an over the top celebration—this extravaganza—that was named the Respect for Marriage Act," Ingraham said. "A bill that moves to restrict freedom of religion and freedom of speech, even. Meaning, whether you're Catholic or evangelical or maybe Muslim, any serious person of faith, you will not necessarily have the rights tomorrow that you had yesterday."

You are not alone if you are scratching your head about that tirade, but it's the sort of thing that occurs anytime the status quo is impacted. Status quo is Latin for "uptight straight white folks." What those folks hadn't fully reckoned was something Dolly Parton figured out all those years ago. "Why can't they be as miserable as us heterosexuals in their marriages?" It kind of takes the strange out of queer. Which is a good thing. 

Worth celebrating.