Ref 74, Morrissey and me

This year, my fellow Washingtonians and I voted 52%-48% in favor of Referendum 74 to recognize marriage equality, allowing same sex couples to marry in our state. Not all results are in at the time of this post, but "cautious optimism" is the phrase I keep reading.

via http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonUnited

This morning I was reading this article in The Stranger, Morrissey and Me, and started to reflect on my own relationship with Morrissey. As you might already know, the name This Charming Candy is a nod to The Smiths' song "This Charming Man" and The Smiths have been one of my favorite bands ever since I first encountered them.

I grew up in suburban Philadelphia in a Catholic family. My only early memories that have anything to do with homosexuality involve my father sneering about Johnny Mathis crooning love songs to "his boyfriend". The sneering was a little confusing; after all, this was in reference to a Johnny Mathis album that was in our house, possibly on the stereo at the time of this remark. Best not to think too much about this unsettling topic, I decided.

A few years later, a friend introduced me to The Smiths. The more I listened to them, the more I liked them - that tortured, yet stylish alienation I heard in their music was a natural fit for a girl in her early teens in the late 1980's.

Morrissey's sexuality was the topic of rumors and speculation - I remember hearing phrases like "non practicing homosexual", etc. At the risk of sounding hopelessly unsophisticated, as a solidly middle class Catholic teenager, these concepts were new and strange and intriguing -- and mind-opening. He's the first celebrity I'm aware of, who I loved and admired, who I knew had atypical orientation, whatever it was. It may sound trite (like love at first sight...) but looking back I can see how valuable it was for me to be exposed to someone like that.

Now here we are -- 20-some years later, voting to approve marriage for any couple, regardless of their sexual orientations. While it's gross and offensive to put a group's rights to a popular vote, I'm really proud to have been part of this election.

Thanks for reading - normal candy topics will resume shortly :-)