I have been choking up all day long.
This morning, at my theatre camp, I burst into tears when the notification from HRC popped up on my phone. I was surrounded by the most lovely teens and young adults who work at my camp, and I was just blown away not only by their enthusiasm at the SOTUS ruling, but also by the fact that they get to grow up in a country that made this happen. What an entirely different world. I can’t stop tearing up.
I picture back to when I was 19 and working at my first theatre and talking with one of the male actors who said he got into theatre because it was the only place where he was totally accepted as a gay man. I also remember that summer he got a letter (back when people wrote letters) saying a friend of his had died of AIDS and we all barely knew what that was, let alone a real person with it. I remember learning about Harvey Milk, about gay bashing, and then having my first openly gay friends in their twenties who still hadn’t told their parents. It’s been 30 years of giving a shit about this. Like a real shit. I don’t think there’s any other issue I care more about. Soren and I have written so many pieces for our show “Broad Comedy” about gay rights and marriage equality that I can’t even remember them all. There have been marches, petitions, letters, and seriously, I actually made phone calls to senators. Waaahh?? I’m not saying that’s cuz I’m so great. Please hear that. I’m saying I did it because it was so damn easy to get myself to do. One of my first comedy songs was called “Apathy.” So I know what apathy and burn out feel like. But I never lost energy for this movement and that speaks to the movement and the people behind it and really just the idea of it all. Over and over I got verklempt at the stories, and seeing other people have juice to do something about it. And I am endlessly impressed with the youth who are behind this activism.
One of the hardest things about being a 47 year old activist is that you just have to fucking fight losing your idealism every day. I don’t know why that happens. It’s maybe the worst thing about getting older. Maybe it’s just endlessly depressing because you just think things won’t really ever change because you’ve seen how, at times, they don’t.
But today this did.
Thank you to everyone who also gave a shit. I’m too tired right now from running a theatre camp to care about the quality of this blog’s writing today! Ha! So forgive me for the lack of eloquence, but damn, man, this was a good day.
(P.S. You might enjoy this one if you’ve never seen it:)
“Gay Marriage”:
Katie Goodman 