How things are changing.

[SheilaT]

Tonight I was at a science fiction thing, and inside of two hours two different people casually referred to their spouses. One man I was speaking with spoke of his husband, a woman addressing the entire group spoke of her wife.

I think it's remarkable, and a very good thing, that the notion -- and the reality -- that a man can marry a man and a woman marry a woman feels so normal.

I'm one of those boring heterosexuals myself, and I wish I could tell you just when I understood that people need to be able to marry, one person at a time of course, but gender doesn't matter.

Just wanted to share.

[theHandpuppet]

1. Thanks -- that's really appreciated

My wife & I are both sci-fi geeks. We always found it mind-boggling that folks could accept, with nary a second thought, sci-fi stories of people mating with all kinds of alien life forms but the notion that two humans of the same gender could be mates?? The horrors! Little did many know that some of the best sci-fi authors were/are gay and some lesbian authors wrote under male names because the sci-fi community had been hostile to both gays and women. Times have certainly changed.

Two gay men who have really helped change people's attitudes in the sci-fi community are author David Gerrold and actor George Takei. I mention them specifically because they've been out for so long.

Edited to add: I have to credit yet another Trek alum, Dorothy Fontana, for breaking the trail for women scriptwriters in sci-fi and Nichelle Nichols for her now-iconic portrayal of Uhura. Trek really did help to change society for the better, much of it accomplished behind the scenes. We just didn't appreciate how much until now.