Huzzah! ?Yes, I am geeky enough to use this greeting.
I feel like we are moving out of the middle ages regarding marriage equality! ?I remember on August 4, 2004 when Missourians voted 70% for Amendment 2 to ban same sex marriage. ?I was getting an acupuncture treatment by Chris Powell; naively I could not believe that folk were so narrow minded and bigoted (you’d think as a Recovering Jehohah’s Witness I would know better. ?Later that year in the fall elections as a draw for socially conservative voters 11 states voted to ban gay marriage. ?They were the citizens of?Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.
What a difference a Supreme Court ruling, grassroots and personal coming out to those we love can make! ?Let’s face it, most folk are too busy living a distracted life to pay attention to those who have less than nearly 1100 federal rights that come through the institution of marriage. ?Once these hetero-privileged know someone who is gay (and coupled), their awareness shifts to increased empathy and understanding. ?I have experienced this in my own life. ?I enjoy a warm circle of supportive friends who accept me as I am and how I love.
Note that our governor has recently signed an executive order that allows same-sex couples legally married in other states can file joint tax returns for Missouri tax purposes. ?Move closer to full recognized rights…if it (marriage equality) quacks like a duck, walks like a duck…too soon?
UTAH? ?DID YOU JUST PUT PEANUT BUTTER IN MY CHOCOLATE?!
Brigham Young may be turning over in his polygamous grave. ?However, this state is important for a major reason. ?A federal judge held that Utah’s?ban on same-sex marriages “conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection”. ?Federal law supersedes state law particularly when a state’s constitution is in conflict with the holdings of the Supreme Court. ?In essence, it is vital that the federal law (Defense of Marriage Act) continue to be interpreted in this manner because the State Supreme Court of the states that have constitutional amendments banning same sex marriage will be less likely to strike down their own constitution. ?The federal courts must do so.
In New Mexico, its State Supreme Court said that the marriage equality opponents must “prove that the discrimination caused by the legislation is ‘substantially related to an important government interest'”. ?It should be noted that Justice Chavez used the term ‘same gender’ marriage and he labeled gays and lesbians as a discrete group that has been ‘subjected to a history of discrimination and violence’. ?The more talk about a LGBTQ people being a discrete group amps up the legal dialogue of being a federally protected class, then there is more judicial scrutiny of legislation that effects these interests and rights.
Enough of the lawyer talk, I promise.
ANYTHING WITH A STARTING DATE
Can have an astrological chart. ?New Mexico and Utah were admitted into the Union under the sign of Capricorn, the sign where Venus will spend four months because of her retrograde status. ?The next Venus Star Point (alignment of Venus, Sun & Earth) occurs on January 11, 2014 at the 22nd degree of Capricorn. ?This point of passion activates more than nine months of structural changes to how we attempt to legislate (Capricorn) love (Venus).
These two states also have the additional distinction of being Reflecting Twin Stars in the Venus Star Point Cosmology. ?Twin Stars “reinforce important concepts of their star sign’s heartfelt expression” p. 279. ?Thanks, Arielle of Venus Star Rising. ?Utah and New Mexico share a Morning Star (warrior/yang) Virgo Venus Star Point. ?Virgo, as an archetype centers upon service to our family, tribe and community. ?And, many gay and lesbian couples become enormously frustrated at the inability to attend to the daily details that many married heterosexual couples take from granted. ?And, sometimes it takes a fairy to bless a union (did you see To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar? ?This movie enumerates at least four rules in becoming a drag queen, modern day fairies, some would say). ?The institution of marriage possesses a 50% failure rate, it will take every fairy to give marriage a well needed spiritual uplift. ?Huzzah!
Realize that Venus stations to go backwards December 21, 2014 in the sign of Capricorn. ?A retrograde Venus has each of us reassess what and?why?we love. ?In the sign of the government, patriarchal authority, status and hierarchies, the Goddess of Love has placed us on notice that there’s nothing better than love in all its forms. ?As a community driven sign, Capricorn wants the blessing of those closest (like its opposite sign of Cancer), but it needs the stamp of approval of the system, the man, the father. Without this acceptance, it does not get better. ?We get rampant drug usage, poverty and suicide in our marginalized communities.
I know that with a Venus standstill on the Winter Solstice, our collective light return to shine on the thought that sources itself in Christ consciousness, ‘to the extent that you do this to the least of mine, you do this to me’. ?In other words, goodwill and kindness are not acts to be confined to this season (or to a particular religion or spiritual practice).
And, if the spiritual and material world are really one world, then our kindnesses should neither be random or rare.
Happy Solstice, may more light shine through your heart than you’ve imagined possible. Thanks for sharing your time with me.
Here’s to New Mexico and Utah!