Shine is a very dear, longtime friend and comrade; please help keep her married!
As mentioned in the comments on my post about the Comstock Films one-day sale where all purchase proceeds went to fight Prop 8, the uber-talented queer porn masterminds at The Crash Pad Series are donating their livelihood to the cause! The successful sale at Comstock is over, and the good people there are even kicking in a few dollars more out of pocket to round up the proceeds. Starting tonight at midnight, The Crash Pad Series is taking every penny from every signup within the 24-hour period on October 30 (all day thursday; ends at midnight tomorrow) and giving it to No on 8. I don’t think I need to tell you how seriously fucking hot this online local, indie queer porn series is — it’s searing.
If you’ve been loving the teasers and trailers from The Crash Pad series and want to see what’s behind the signup wall — check your watch and join on October 30. It’s good for the world, it’s good for what’s in your pants.
“There is power in creating images, and for a woman of color and a queer to take that power… I don’t find it exploitative; I think it’s necessary.”
~Shine Louise Houston
Violet, thanks for letting us know about the Crash Pad donation. I have been lusting (heh) for that series ever since I first saw the trailer (I think also through your blog), but I’ve been trying not to spend too much money on myself lately…so today I subscribed to it with a happy conscience. :D
@Steve, maybe for the same reasons straight people get married, whether or not they want children. (Also, lots of gay couples have children without adopting! There are lots of ways this can happen, starting but definitely not with children conceived in former het relationships.) There are a lot of reasons besides child-related ones to want a legally-recognized marriage. Hospital visitation rights are often cited. In my state, the spouse of a married person who dies intestate (without a will) is the major heir by default. A spouse is also the only “near relative” who is not a blood relation who is allowed to order someone’s absentee ballot, which is pretty important this year! These are just a few examples.
Then there are social reasons. We are constantly being bombarded with ideas about romance that say a happy ending is one that includes a wedding, and ideas about life that say normal, healthy families are ones with two married spouses, whether or not they are parents. Whether or not these are ultimately good ideas for everyone, most people receive a lot of pressure to conform to these ideas, not just from conservative bigots but from loving friends and family members, all kinds of media, and sometimes our own happy memories.
There are lots and lots of homosexual people who are proudly queer in their entire lifestyles and have no interest in assimilating to heterosexual-centered ways and beliefs. But there are also lots and lots of homosexual people who don’t want to make waves in every single aspect of their life, who want to be accepted by society as it is without having to wait for radical change. Marriage is part of this.
I’ve already voted against 8 by mail, but I keep asking my wife why gay people want to get married. It’s one of the few questions for which she has no good answer.
Why must we have a license from the state to have a lover? Working married couples with roughly equal incomes pay higher income taxes than they would if they were single and filed separately. So it costs to be married.
Marriage is a social contract designed primarily for the benefit of children. It requires dads to help pay for their children’s support and gives the children rights to their father’s estate. Unless they adopt, gay couples aren’t going to have children, so again, why marry? Can Violet or somebody else explain this desire?
I knew Shine was a good egg from the day we met. No surprise she’s gone on to make such outstanding contributions to the world of erotic cinema, and no surprise she’s doing this either!