Kudos to NY, not so much for the other 44 states...

Today, the state of New York legalized gay marriage.

As happy as that makes me for such an influential state, it also makes me incredibly sad for the rest of the states that refuse to follow suit.

In a country where only five states (CT, IA, NH, VT, MA), D.C. and the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon actually issue licenses for gay marriages, and two other states that will recognize you as a human but not give you a license (RI and MD), it makes me wonder what "freedom" exactly are our troops fighting for every single day?

It's pathetic that this is still a real issue. And one that's been beaten far beyond a dead-horse state.

"According to the federal government's Government Accountability Office (GAO), more than 1,138 rights and protections are conferred to U.S. citizens upon marriage by the federal government; areas affected include Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration law. However, many aspects of marriage law affecting the day to day lives of inhabitants of the United States are determined by the states, not the federal government, and the Defense of Marriage Act does not prevent individual states from defining marriage as they see fit."----

Right...so a state can legalize your decision to bind your assets and share your life with the same sex, but how can you possibly think it's constitutionally sound to want to be recognized as some one's spouse when you are trying to stay by their hospital bed in another state? How can it make sense to want to take medical leave when your life partner is having a baby that you will legally raise as your child? And of course its absolutely ludicrous to want to be added to your spouse's pension plan.

I wish for a moment people would pull their heads out of their asses to breathe in some fresh air and have a moment of clarity...where they forget what those old wig wearing farts wrote in a constitution that was based on a fairy tale idea (probably while consuming large amounts of bourbon and smoking opium)...and just think of people as....wait for it.....PEOPLE. As individuals that have the human right to choose with whom they wish to fall in love, and with whom to share their treasures and debts.

Hooray for New York....really. I just sincerely hope more states will follow. And I sincerely wish this trend would start inland moving out to the edges of the nation instead of trying to penetrate from the coastal states into the middle.

Fingers and what-not crossed, but I certainly won't hold my breath for fear of asphyxiation.