Thoughts on a Strange World

Today, the American Supreme Court is listening to arguments to uphold or overturn California's Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage after the California Supreme Court declared it legal. I hope that the court will find the law unconstitutional. I hope that they will also overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that was passed by Congress back in 1996.

Over the course of the 20th Century the idea of marriage changed from the legal combining of a man and woman into one entity under the control of the man, to an agreement between two people who support each other and share legal access to each others resources and share responsibilities. In 1967 the US eliminated barriers of race and color preventing legal marriage, and while 94% of Americans disapproved of interracial marriage in 1958, by 2011 only 11% of Americans said they wouldn't welcome a member of another race into their family. That is quite a difference in less than a century.

I hope that in the future we are able to point to this session of the Supreme Court as the end of legal discrimination against LBGT individuals.

(While arguments are being heard this week, decisions are not expected until June.)

I've been lurking for some time, in part because my spare time has been focused on writing a book with my husband Eric.

Last night, we declared it ready for public viewing, and we've published it as an e-book.

Its been a long journey, but very worthwhile. Especially when we had it edited by a professional and discovered how many typos had escaped both of us. Using the suggestions she provided, we made it better. We also had the best proofreader, my Mother-in-law. Eric is a self-confessed 'Typo King' and she has years of experience checking his work.

( click here for the blurb )

I watched a show on the Discovery Chanel the other day called 'Track Me If You Can' that was looking at how to change identities. I thought it might be good food for writing, especially for HL fic, since Immortals have to change IDs regularly.

It really didn't tell me any thing I didn't already know, except that Banks in Japan are trying out palm scanners that check the veins in your hand as a biometric id check.

However, if you've never thought about what it takes to change identities, it could be worth watching.