A much-ballyhoo’ed issue of Time magazine hit the newsstands today. By “much-ballyhoo’ed,” I mean they did a lot of advance PR for it among LGBT folks online (sample size of one: this reporter received an email). By “hit the newsstands,” I mean, some folks are getting it in print today, others will see it in a crinkly, tattered version in their doctor’s office next week or the week after. The rest of us will be not only reading the cover story online but absorbing the meta-story around it.
The cover story’s title says a lot: “Gay Marriage Already Won.” The gist is, regardless of the SCOTUS ruling in late June, public opinion has shifted in favor of this significant facet of our civil rights, and it’s not heading back. For related reading, by the way, you might be interested in the blog of one of the gals on the cover, Kristen Henderson (Hangin’ With Hendo, which we have now added to our long backlog of blogs to add to the LesFam blog lists). Or you might try the book Kristen and her wife wrote together: Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made.
The meta-story around the cover story, aided and abetted by some of that PR, is driven by various questions, like: “Are the photos too sexually explicit?” “Will the images shock the conservative straight folks (the modern LGBT civil rights movement’s version of époque le bourgeoisie)?” Time asks and starts to answer them in their own piece here.
But a better question, to my mind, is: “Why didn’t they go with the image of Elaine Harley and Mignon Moore for the gal one?” Professor Moore teaches Sociology at UCLA, and wrote the excellent book Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood Among Black Women. There may be more white people than people of color (in aggregate) in the United States right now, but not for long (Check this cool COLORLINES piece for a summary, along with a ThinkProgress map: 2042 looks to be the swing year; if I’m not around, I hope my kids throw a big party). In my home state of California, people of color (again, in aggregate) have outnumbered white folks for a long time (and are at 60% of the state population right now). Most important of all these factoids is that, at least where I come from (and I suspect this bears out nationally as well), African American, API, and Latin@ communities make up the largest proportions of LGBT families with children, relative to their straight counterparts within their communities.
For what it’s worth, the online version of the article includes Prof. Moore and Ms. Harley on the first page (out of four). Close, but no cigar. But it’s time for the cigar.
[PHOTO CREDIT: PETER HAPAK FOR TIME]
Tag your pics #villageq to be included in the family album at 