Missing Out on My Rainbow Ice Pop

I’ve been writing my own blog for a few years now.  My general mission is to inspire and entertain, usually by describing somewhat outrageous physical adventures and by poking fun at myself.  I do my best not to offend anyone and to basically keep this blog politically neutral and somewhat family friendly (if you don’t mind your family members reading the occasional bad word).  But the beauty of owning my own blog is that I can write about anything I want, even if some people disagree with my opinion.  Well, this is going to be one of those.

To get to my point, I want to create a scenario.  Picture two brothers.  Let’s name them A and B.  One is older by about 2 or 3 years.  Both brothers are born to the same parents at the same hospital.  They grow up in the same house.  They share a bedroom throughout their childhood.  They go to the same elementary and high school.  Hell, let’s make this easy.  They even attend the same college.  One becomes an engineer, the other an accountant: two respectable careers for 2 men who grew up with relatively similar lives.  Here’s the kicker, though.  A is straight, B is gay (and to make this really easy, let’s say that B comes out to his parents and brother when he is a teenager, and they all accept him immediately partly because they pretty much already knew, and partly because they just love B for exactly who he is). 

The problem, though, is that these brothers live in a state where same sex marriage is not legal.  So, when each brother finds the love of his life, his other half, A has the legal right to marry his true love and B does not.  Now, why does that make sense?  Why is one person granted a legal right and his own brother is not?  Sorry, that just doesn’t work for me.

Now, why am I getting so opinionated in a blog that’s usually about running, is sometimes inspirational and almost always ridiculously witty?  Because I can’t run. 

Let me explain.  I need to run 9 races with NY Road Runners in 2013 in order to have guaranteed entry into the 2014 NYC Marathon.  As most of you know (through my constant kvetching), I broke my foot in April and have therefore only completed 3 of those 9 races (2 of them were completed ON that broken foot, which other than childbirth is the most painful thing I have ever done to myself).  I missed one qualifying race in April, 2 in May, and one early in June.  And each time it hurt a little more, knowing that my goal to complete 9 by the end of the year was getting further delayed and maybe even becoming unattainable.

OK, how does this tie in with marriage equality?  Well, it does and it doesn’t.  This morning was the LGBT Pride Run in Central Park, a 5 mile race that is also a marathon qualifier and which for me should have been race number 8.  Again, it was a race I couldn’t do, but this time my disappointment wasn’t because I missed out on another qualifier.  I admit that I do count this race towards my 9 every year, but that’s not why I run it.  I run this race every year to support my LGBTQ friends who I think should have as much right to marry as I do.  I guess I don’t understand the connection between a person’s rights and the requirement of their partner to have mismatching anatomical body parts.

When I broke my foot, I was incarcerated in a medical boot for 6 weeks.  As bothered as I was by that, I figured I’d still be able to run the Pride Race at the end of June.  But, that 6 weeks turned into 11 (probably from me running those 2 races on it that now that I think about it was not only excruciatingly painful but also extremely stupid), knocking me out of all races from mid-April to at least mid-July.  I was emancipated from my boot yesterday, which I celebrated by wearing 2 matching shoes for the first time in 3 months.  But it was too late to run in the Pride race this year so I have to show my support of equal rights for the LGBTQ community with my computer instead of my feet. 

I’m guessing that the runners of today’s race celebrated the recent decisions on DOMA and Proposition 8.  The race was probably festive and fun, and ended as always with each finisher getting a rainbow ice pop (which after running 5 miles in the sweltering heat is just the best tasting thing ever). 

Next year I intend to participate in the race, and the year after that and the year after that.  Hopefully one year we’ll all celebrate the passing of a federal law legalizing same-sex marriage throughout the country.  I will continue to show my support, be it by turning my blog into a political statement, or enjoying a rainbow ice pop at the end of the LGBT Pride Race in Central Park.