Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

It's inevitable. I am going to cut my hair.

I have been growing it out in a desperate attempt to redefine my femininity. Or at least, my version of femininity...However askew it may be. Although I usually get a great deal of positive comments on my ultra-short hair, I have been obsessed with to have, or not to have, the length. A little hair history: I have had super-short hair for a good portion of my adult life. When I was is high school, my hair came to the middle of my back, blonde and straight. I truly believe that my Mom is still struggling with the loss of that hair. I began cutting in in my Junior year of college. I went from good ol' traditional Southern past-the-shoulder length, freshly styled with the hot rollers locks to inch long layers within a year. Haven't looked back since.

Funny and true story...I got married in Key West, Florida during "Women's Week". Just in case you aren't clear on how to translate "Women's Week", it is a week long celebration of all things lesbian. Anyway, at the time I had extremely short hair. Let me just say, short hair does not make one a lesbian. It might help you get laid if you are one...But I am not, so the potentially mannish hairstyle wasn't sexually premeditated...Anyway, the evening of the wedding, all is normal. Vows, sweat, tears, Bridezilla and all that. (Melinda, I am still so sorry for not taking that picture with you. I may not be a lesbian, but I sure am a bitch). After the ceremony, my betrothed and I went to Schooner's Wharf for a beer. I went in full bridal regalia. I got my beer and headed to the ladies room. After completing my business, mostly consisting of wrangling my boobs back into my wedding dress properly, I was absconded by a rather large group of drunk lesbians. They were sooooo happy for me, and kept saying, "only in Key West"!!! over and over. I figured pretty quickly that they thought I was a partner in the p-word, and had just married a fellow female. Do you know I actually had a little guilt when I said "oh, I just married a MAN"?! There was a moment's silence, then some half-hearted "congratulations, anyway".

I will never forget how happy those women were for me when they thought that I had committed to my same-sex partner -- for life -- there in Key West, a haven for homosexuals. My heart breaks for all of the same-sex couples that have been together waaaaaaaay longer than my husband and I have, and quite possibly have more love for each other then my husband and I have, yet aren't allowed the same rights and privileges. Do you know the struggles a same-sex couple had to go through, not long ago, if a partner passed away? Most often, they had no rights as a partner, no say in how the matters of death should be handled. It is likely that the one individual who KNEW what the other wanted, could not act as executor of those wishes. What if it were you? What if you told your life partner all of the things you would want accomplished in your absence...only to see those things disappear along with you. Sad.

I know that many of you may not agree. You know what, that's okay. That is what makes this world an amazing place. We can all freely think what we choose and love who we choose. It is only fitting, then, that we should be free to marry who we choose. It may not be romantic, but the legal matters of living and dying should be in the hands of those who love us the most. If you live here in Florida, I strongly encourage you to vote "NO" on the Florida Marriage Amendment Act that will be on the 2008 ballot. It is not the governments responsibility to tell people how to love. They are perfectly within their rights to police behavior when it comes down to me killing my husband (ha ha, a joke, do not print this and save it for the trial), but they are NOT within their rights to police whether or not same-sex couples should be allowed the same marital rights as opposite-sex couples. Quite frankly, a good 65-70% of the opposite-sex couples I know practice anal sex on the regular, so sodomy just doesn't qualify as a justification, in my book...