Why the New York Marriage Equality Law is 'Silly'

As if you needed another reminder that creating marriage equality in New York was the right thing to do for our future, here's another one.

On such a momentous day, when her mom was wandering the house on a natural high, it was hard not to include my 6-year-old in the celebrations. "Guess what," I said. OK, maybe I shrieked it? With glee? "Today is a very, very important day. Today we are proud to be New Yorkers because today people can finally marry the people they love."


Call it a lesson in picking your moment. She said "huh" and continued to let me brush her hair. And then it came out. "Like you and Daddy?"

"Yes, like me and Daddy, but like your uncles who love each other. Boys can marry boys now. And girls can marry girls now! Isn't that wonderful?"

She grinned, stuck, I confess on the idea of her uncles getting married. I could almost see my little fashionista's brain forming the word "flower girl," but it didn't come out. Instead, she waited out my elation, aware that I had a brush caught up in the mass of blond curls, before making her move.

"That's silly," she said.

Silly. Yes. It was a commentary on me, not the situation. Silly that Mommy was so out-of-this-world, over-the-top excited about something that shouldn't be a big deal. Silly because to her, when she found out her "uncles" slept in the same bed, her only reaction was to say "OK, now show me the bathroom."

This is our future, America, and it makes me proud to be one.

Although I'll confess the follow up half an hour later may have made the New Yorker in me grin hardest.
"Can boys marry boys in Philly?" she asked.

I confess I was confused, but I went with it. "No, honey, sadly, Pennsylvania isn't there yet. One day soon we hope."

"But Philly, they can't get married in Philly, right?"

"Right."

"Good, because the Phillies stink. The Yankees rule!"

Ah, I'm proud to be a New Yorker.

Image via Guillaume Paumier/Flickr