Gay Place

WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE

Is this our Brown v. Board of Education? Is the trial currently waging in San Francisco to challenge the constitutionality of California's controversial Proposition 8 going to be the tipping point to turn the tide of the gay marriage fracas? The plaintiffs in the case are two gay men and two lesbians, each set in a long-term relationship, bearing witness to the courts of lives under discriminatory public policies and law. Ultimately, they are putting their own lives on the line for the rest of us, standing up for the equal protection under the constitution that we all deserve. Both sides of the case know that however this thing turns out, the case will likely be appealed and go on to the Supreme Court. This week, Glee star and all around brilliant funny gay Jane Lynch weighed in on the marriage issue and is quoted across the blogosphere questioning the morality of something like Prop 8 to have even existed on a ballot in the first place and thinks someone at the top needs to help tip the tipping point: "Shouldn't there be safeguards against the majority voting on the rights of a minority? If people voted on civil rights in the '60s, it would have never happened. It took somebody like [U.S. President] Lyndon Johnson going, 'F all of you! I'm going to do this.' Obama won't do it. He's a huge disappointment to me." Also this week, New York and the gay art world honored the passing of SoHo collector, gallery owner, and social activist Fritz Lohman, who, along with his partner of almost 50 years, helped develop NYC's famed art district back in the late Sixties. Partner Charles Leslie has promised to continue to run the gallery, saying that it "comes into the category of 'what we do for love.'" And isn't this the country where we're all guaranteed our freedom to be able to do 'what we do for love'?