Hope dies last

The most interesting part of this “process piece” by the Grey Lady concerning the political passage in New York of legislation recognizing same-sex marriage is not the fact [as I briefly discussed with Lindsay, who, amusingly is a member of the same CSA as I] that the one politician who really deserves credit for taking genuine political risk to advance the issue is David Paterson… and he isn’t even mentioned in the Times piece. Oh yes… the interesting thing… the article does mention that one of the key hedge fund managers who wrote one of the key checks to make this issue palatable to Republicans was none other than my college classmate Daniel Loeb… where have I heard that name before? Oh yes… he was Barack’s friend… who read Barack’s personal letter to the assembled members of my college reunion class.
Black, white, red, blue, pink, rainbow… what matters in this country is and seemingly always will be… GREEN. Sorry Al Gore… not that kind of green.
But I come here neither to praise nor to bury the politicians and political operatives of New York… but to recognize this little item (and let’s not make too much of it; it is largely symbolic as those desiring same sex marriage in New York previously needed only to take a train ride to nearby Greenwich, CT to be married, and New York would already recognize such a marriage) which is nonetheless a very exciting development, which moves the needle on human dignity forward just a little, even as so many other things are going retrograde at the same time. For our all-too-rare-given-that-we-live-here Broadway evening this “pride weekend,” finding ourselves abruptly shut out of the “TKTS” discount window, Mrs. TD and I quickly ducked in to the nearest Broadway drag show, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. One would have hoped for a shout-out to New York, given, you know… But it was fun nonetheless, especially for fans (like me!) of late 70’s high disco, even if still a bit too “heart-warming” for me, who remembered the edge of the original film.
Well, no matter. New York is now the sixth, and by far the largest, of the American states (seven jurisidictions counting D.C.) to recognize same sex marriage. My friend Candace, of course, always tells us that “hope dies last,” and maybe she (and Studs!) are right, and amidst the vast darkness of it all, the human spirit yearning for freedom and dignity will win out in the end. This weekend, at least, maybe such a spirit will even win over my own dour countenance.
This has been… “Hope dies last.”