It's Not Over

I was having a bad day Friday. Work was a pain, with ten computers deciding to simultaneously break in one room - and the only way I could get them working again was to replace every network cable and tear out part of the wall so I could thread all the wires through. Then, covered in dust, I had to trawl through the cupboard full of broken computers noting the serial number, unscrewing the back, and then adding the serial numbers to a database. I still maintain that I like my job, but I almost ran out once the day was over.

At the point of collapse, I then read up on the news. Considering how one glance at the BBC homepage is enough to turn anyone into a manic depressive, it had to be a pretty awful news day to make me exclaim "oh Jesus wept!" Three terrorist attacks in three separate places, all resulting in horrid deaths. All of this during the sacred month of Ramadan: a time when Muslims are attempting to feel closer to Allah and their most holy of traditions is being vandalised by extremists bringing shame to their religion and despair to the world.

So I actually felt like crying when, right at the end of this stream of utter horror, the news was like: "Oh, and gay marriage is now legal throughout the whole of America." Crying with happiness, obviously; because there was only one thing that could have possibly turned such a day into a great day.

America certainly isn't the first place to legalise same-sex marriage. It's not even the 10th, or the 20th. So why am I celebrating rather than spitting bile at those bloody yanks for showing up late to the battle as always? Aside from the fact this is the only piece of good news I've heard in a while?

If you think of ultra-paranoid, gun-toting, bible-bashing, flag-waving people - you think America. Aside from perhaps Mordor, it's the last place you'd expect to welcome gay marriage with a double-rainbow. But here we are: one of the most christian nations on earth founded on violence and slavery (though, look at our history) just acknowledged that I fall in love with men because I love them and not because I can't get a woman. A country legalising same-sex marriage is a country that realises there is no such thing as 'the homosexual lifestyle' or 'choice.'

But the worst thing about the world we live in is that there is always something to poop the party. That war going on across the border. That famine on the other side of the globe. The fact that despite homophobes losing this battle, they will carry on and probably become even stronger in the face of defeat.

Homophobia still exists in England. I don't think I'll ever feel safe walking down the street holding hands with another man, UKIP and the BNP are so desperate for attention that they're now trying to appeal to the screaming homophobics (which is like trying to appeal to mould), our Minister for Equalities actually voted against same-sex marriage, and Ofcom still get abuse thrown at them when two people of the same gender kiss before the watershed.

But at least if I was to get married then I wouldn't be in danger of losing my job or getting kicked out of a hotel/restaurant/taxi/bus/etc. Even if I did, it's illegal in England to discriminate against someone based on their sexuality and so I could easily sue the person or company responsible because they would've broken the law. Meanwhile, only a handful of states in America have measures put in place to prevent such discrimination.

And very little has changed in the rest of the world. Granted, there is now much more pressure on both Northern Ireland and Germany to introduce same-sex marriage; two countries where equality is way overdue, but the middle east and Africa seems more impermeable than ever. And don't even get me started on Jamaica - which has progressive laws on cannabis yet you can still get arrested for being gay. I'm all for the legalisation of weed...but come ON Jamaica! Priorities!

In fact, you can actually still get arrested in parts of the US. They would have to release me shortly afterwards once the court immediately clears the charge, yet I have to ask why the fuck this hasn't been removed yet!?

So don't for a second think that it's over. Heck, black people have been 'equal' for decades and look how many get shot every second. And women! Poor, poor women!