NPR and Amendment One

I arrive at 6:47 P.M.
there's a vague line

I join and am approached
by a volunteer
who is tipped off-center
by my guest count
(having RSVP'd +2
I arrived +none)

enter
and easily find a seat
one over from a white haired gentleman

his wife
when she arrives
asks me why I am here

I say
to learn what others
have to say
she does not respond

pregnant pause
she shows me her stake
on her I-phone
a picture of her gay niece
her wife
the adopted daughter

I nod and smile and awkwardly
go silent
and start sizing up the crowd

who is for
who is against

the gum popping
high-collared white guys
and the ladies in frumpy
floral prints
I mentally mark as for

and most
since this is sponsored by an NPR station
I assume
are against

 

the stoop shouldered gentleman with the dolorous voice
introduces the panelists

people are buzzing and aligning themselves
the audience is acting

"he not busy being born
is dying"

the man for
wrote a book about it being Correct
not Politically Correct
cites statistics that show
marriage
between a man and woman
is the healthy foundation
of civilized society

the man against
a local law professor
thinks it is bad law

this
is
where we begin

even though
we all
know

this is about
gay
and straight

both men receive hisses and applauding
this polite NPR audience can't help themselves

the serpent's back is rising

the forceful voices without clarity speak
which is most of both sides

but really
I think

there just ain't a rational argument against
as
the language of bigotry is always the same

the core of the argument
is
why do they have to have what we have
can't it be
separate
but equal

civil unions not marriage




same old bullshit
is what I think