Good news, Florida queers: you can now get have a marriage license and a driver’s license. At the same time! Miraculous!
That’s thanks to Scott and Daniel Wall-DeSousa, two Floridians who got married in New York, hyphenated their last name, and then tried to get updated drivers’ licenses in Florida.
Florida didn’t care much for that, and took away their marriage licenses. Basically, if you get gay-married and you want to drive, Florida was saying that you have to do it under your old, no-longer-legal name. But now they’ve reversed course, and the two men (and presumably anyone else who gets married) are free to drive wherever they like. Unfortunately, they live in Florida, so they’ll have to drive pretty far to get to anything good.
As goofy as Florida’s rules were, other states are looking into laws that would be far worse: one lawmaker in Virginia wants to give hospitals the right to turn away gay people. And a bunch of other states want to make it legal to take away housing, employment, or access to basic businesses and services.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Being denied the services of a florist is annoying and insulting, but what happens when it’s a bank, or a school, or the one grocery store in town?
Richie
I think “wedding” in first paragraph should be “driver’s”.
BJ McFrisky
We can have a marriage license AND a wedding license? Terrific.
(now, what the hell does this have to do with driving?)
customartist
Florida mirrors Russia. Whooda thunkit?
But then the Governor of Florida does think a lot like Putin, so I suppose this explain something?
jwtraveler
Florida did not refuse to let gay couples drive. It refused to let them change their names. It’s stupid, but it’s not the same thing.
“As goofy as Florida’s rules were, other states are looking into laws that would be far worse: one lawmaker in Virginia wants to give hospitals the right to turn away gay people. And a bunch of other states want to make it legal to take away housing, employment, or access to basic businesses and services.”
These laws already exist in 29 states and a few more for trans people. In our decades long obsessive focus on gay marriage, we have forgotten or neglected the fact that LGBT people still lack basic civil rights in most states.
GAY RIGHTS IS NOT ALL ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE!!
Scribe38
@jwtraveler: Stop yelling and calm down. No one ever said marriage was the only issue that needs to be worked on. Having marriage protection in place will make fighting for those other laws easier. I really can’t understand gay men who either oppose same-sex marriage or complain about the positive progress and energy placed in its pursuit. Those we win over on the marriage issue will also be willing to help over employment, housing, and hospital stays. If you prefer to remain single/not married awesome for you but stop sh*tting on the rest of us who want this right. People are capable of fighting more than one civil injustice at a time.
YouGoGurl
@jwtraveler: I couldn’t agree more. And even our “political” news magazine, The Advocate, isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. It’s a shame. I’ve been getting it sent to me for free for 3,000 years. I refuse to renew and they keep sending it. I don’t even open the pages anymore. Oh, and thanks for coupling it with OUT in your black plastic “gee I hope nobody finds out I’m gay, closet-case’ packaging. Both publications should be put to rest.
Scribe38
Btw to my Log cabin brothers and sisters please explain to me how these new anti-gay GOP driven laws and lawsuits aren’t a form of big government/waste of tax dollars from the party of “smaller government”.
sangsue
Hey, at least these anti-gay law doesn’t make it legal to shoot and kill them. You know, like it’s mandatory to kill black people in Florida.
erasure25
@Scribe38: The GOP isn’t about small government (see Reagan).
jwtraveler
@Scribe38: Wow. Someone’s got his panties in a twist.
“People are capable of fighting more than one civil injustice at a time.”
But they aren’t. In the 21st century the sole focus of the so-called gay rights movement, other than DADT, has been on marriage. The major gay movement, led by HRC has focused exclusively on marriage. Gay websites like Queerty and print publications publish numerous articles on marriage in every issue, but there is rarely a mention of the 29 states where gay people lack even the most basic civil rights protections. Why? Because the rich, white, men who fund this movement live in states and municipalities where they already enjoy civil rights protections. I don’t know about you, but I’ve managed to live quite a successful life without being married. I think I’d have a lot harder time without a job or a home.
I’m not shitting on anyone. The gay, white, male elite in 21 states are shitting on LGBT people in the other 29.
I don’t know how one can yell by writing on the internet, but I do know that nobody ever changed anything in the world by staying quiet.
Saint Law
@jwtraveler: Yeah, coz no poor gay people want to get married do they?
“I don’t know about you but I’ve managed to live quite a successful life without getting married. I think I’d have a lot harder time without a job or a home.”
I don’t know about you but I know plenty of people who’ve lost their homes after their partner died because the family of the deceased were the default legally recognised next of kin. This after they (the bereaved partner) was denied access to their dying lover because his family blocked visitation rights. In many cases having a will was not sufficient to prevent the family challenging the surviving partner’s right to contest his presence at the bedside and remain in his home.
Having marriage parity with straight people is symbolically (and actually) very important if you and your bloke want to adopt kids, or if you already have kids from a previous hetero relationship.
But why am I explaining this to you? You Know all this.
I honestly can’t think of a political strategy more destructive than creating a conflict between the ‘pro-marrieds’ (effete metropolitan white men) and the ‘pro-protection in the workplace’ (honest horny handed sons of toil).
It’s like summut a gay Karl Rove would dream up.
WIIM
I have no idea what anyone is talking about. Florida is a very friendly state for gay drivers. On Both 95 and the Florida Turnpike that have that lovely HOV lane, just for us…Homosexuals On Vacation.