(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
It's been a long time coming...
Well hello everybody! Welcome to the second installment of our long-dormant column Big Day Out!
For those of you unfamiliar with the Big Day/Night Out format, here's what you're looking at: All kinds of events are happening all over Minnesota on any given day or night. Whether those things are concerts, protests, the State Fair (as was the case with the first Big Day Out post) or, in this case, a momentous political event, we try to be sure to have somebody there to document things.
As most of you already know, yesterday Governor Mark Dayton held a ceremony on the State Capitol lawn to sign the bill allowing gay marriage. As we don't have a political writer here on Newest Industry, we just figured we'd send TCDroogsma to take in the afternoon's events. Sure, he's typically just a music critic, but his perpetual availability made him just the man for the job.
So, Droogsy... how was it?
I'll be honest, I didn't know what to expect when I hopped on the 94 and headed from downtown Minneapolis to the capitol building. I'd been watching the news for the last couple of days and watched curiously as the gay marriage issue divided up the people of Minnesota. All the rancor and debate had ended in a 37-30 vote from the senate, allowing the gay marriage bill to be presented Governor Mark Dayton, who had made it very clear that he intended to sign the bill into law.
Getting onto the bus, I was surprised to learn just how many people on board were heading over to the capitol. The 94 is always busy, but I'd be willing to wager that at least 70% of the people on board today were making their way over for the celebration. Of course, being a Minneapolis resident, I wasn't particularly surprised. The GLBT community here in town is one of the most prominent in the nation and they've done a great job of making sure their voices were heard the most loudly in their home city. But again, having no real idea of what I was heading into, I was surprised by the numbers.
When I did eventually arrive to the capitol building, I was met with a large sea of people (The Strib puts the total number around 7,000). This, I suppose, I had expected. What surprised me, however, was the complete lack of dissenting opinion. Seeing so many people on their soap boxes over the last two years, I was fully expecting the anti-gay marriage community to make their presence known one last time, y'know, just in case we had forgotten that we were destroying the very fabric of America and dooming ourselves to a future of... well... well, I'm not totally sure. I never got the specifics of what the negative consequences of gay marriage were. I'm sure they were dire, though.
The lack of anti-gay marriage mongers, however, gave the proceedings an oddly calm energy. To be certain, the crowd was there to celebrate. The much-discussed "myth of inevitability" had given way to, well, the reality of inevitability. That inevitability colored the afternoon. As the temperature soared through the 80's for the first time this summer and up into the 90's, I wouldn't say the crowd wilted because, frankly, they were never fully bloomed. If anything, the entire ceremony took on an air of formality (which makes sense given Dayton's well known stance on the issue). Sure, the crowd cheered lustily when Dayton made his way to the stage, and they dutifully continued as the parade of representatives and gay rights advocates made their way to the stage, but really, the celebration had been the night before.
To draw a sports parallel, the fight over the last couple of years, first to defeat last year's amendment, and now to pass this new bill, had been akin to the long and arduous battle of a playoff run. The playoff run had it's highs, lows, and plenty of bruises, but it had all been worthwhile, as foes had been defeated and the championship (the bill passing both the house and senate) had been won. Last night's vote was akin to the players celebrating on the ice, yelling, jumping, hugging, sharing the moment with everybody who had been their with them over the course of the struggle. Tuesday's signing was merely the parade after the fact (there was literally a parade), a moment to look back, acknowledge the work done, shake hands, pat backs, and maybe finally relax.
I couldn't help but sense just a bit of confusion mixing with the satisfaction. The age old question for anybody who's set a seemingly impossible goal only to finally achieve it is, "What happens next?" The question seemed to linger in the air over the whole proceedings. Most of the people in attendance had committed at least the last two years of their lives to this singular goal. They'd prayed together, fought together, cried together, and they'd won together. But now, short of sharing a couple of celebratory drinks, there is no more "together." These people had brought out the very best in each other and in other Minnesotans. But even a journey that ends in success is still a journey ending.
To be sure, everybody seemed to enjoy this night together. But the fact that they now had to go back to fighting the smaller fights (the intolerant neighbors, the sideways glances on the street, the barely-concealed disdain) and, more importantly, fighting them with only the knowledge of kindred spirits (rather than the actual physical presence of kindred spirits) loomed larger as the night wore on.
Here's hoping those battles are fewer now than ever before. Minnesota did a great thing over these last couple of years and that collective sigh of relief you heard coming from St. Paul yesterday was well-earned. All things considered, though, yesterday's festivities may turn out to be that last drink before the bar lights come on and everybody is thrust back out into the real world. At least it's a better place today than it was yesterday.
For more TCDroogsma, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.
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