Last year I cried
with joy
because I
never thought
I’d see a Black man
elected to office
in my lifetime.
Last year I cried
in despair
because I
was shocked
that California
voted my love
unworthy of marriage.
This is the dance
a step forward
a step back
a few crushed
underneath our feet.
—
I see these
couples
they are
so good
together
they are
so good
to each other
I see these
couples
I see them
building
their lives
together
I see their love
I see their
worries
whether they’ll
be able to visit
each other in
an emergency room
whether they’ll
be able to
start a family
whether the law
will recognize
their partnership
if one of them
suddenly perished
before the proper
web of legal arrangements
could be made.
And I see Them
those people who
can simply say “I do”–
those people
who vote to make
the law blind
to these lovers.
I see those people
I beg, I ask
How?
Why?
And I can’t
for the life of me
understand
their answers.
narinda heng 
I like how you start with talking about progress and the significance of Obama winning the presidency, and then how all the hope in that gets shattered as you delve into the injustice enforced upon same gender couples. Brilliant.
And F***ING frustrating, I don’t understand their answers either!
A lot of conservative/religious people defend their hate for gay marriage as something that pleases God, etc. etc. I usually think it’s them who are ruining what marriage really means. How many people went to Vegas, got married in a drunken frenzy and have divorces that are longer than their marriage? How many people do it out of convenience, or to keep money in their family, or because of an accidental pregnancy, well whatever the reason, I think it’s a disgrace that so many of these people, who really don’t give a shit about marriage, have a right to decide the fate of marriage for people who actually want to do it out of love.