[aishah]

i don't expect it to be an express ride, either - i don't know any younger (or for that matter older - 40-50+) activists (at least in the communities i am part of) who do. most of us have experienced hate and prejudice (not to mention loss of jobs, loss of loved ones, violence against loved ones, violence against us, etc.). i respect that it was much harder decades ago. but most of us know this shit is still hard.

i don't believe marriage itself is solely a white, middle-class issue. i do believe white, middle-class folks dominate the conversation (at least in the u.s.) and that that is part of why marriage is the single issue. and part of the media piece is projecting an assimilationist/mainstreamed idea of what queer is (usually white, middle-class, and monogamous), and i think that does some harm to the rest of us in terms of marginalizing us further (regardless of whether we have legal protection for our marriages).