Barbra, Bryant Park and a Very Important Lesson

Last night M. and I went to Bryant Park to watch The Way We Were - which I'd bever seen, and which I liked quite a bit, but which was also about half an hour too long for an outdoor viewing on wine-soaked grass in cramped quarters.

A friend of a friend of a friend was there, an overbearing type we'd previously met at a party along with his new husband, the two of whom spent at least an hour sharing aaaaaaaaaaaaall the details of their whirlwind ceremony in Montreal (as well as their mutual predilection for waxing off 100% of their pubic hair). It was a little much to take in all at once, but one could not deny how overwhelmingly blissed-out they were about the whole thing, and their excitement was contagious.

That was about two months ago.

And now, according to the foafoaf, it's all over. Done. Divorced. As in, he'd literally just come back from signing the divorce papers in Canada.

My first thought was one of sadness and sympathy. They'd seemed like such a good match, not only able to put up with one another, but able to share mutual niche interests such as the Full Brazilian.

My second thought was, Maybe if his husband were here tonight, he wouldn't have his hand halfway up the leg of my shorts.

In the end, though, it just felt validating and liberating and normalizing. I mean, if us gays want equal treatment and marriage rights, then By Golly, why shouldn't we take the whole cart and horse like everyone else? Why shouldn't we be able to make mistakes like everyone else, eloping to Canada and then ripping up the papers three weeks later? Part of getting married is taking a risk, and sometimes that risk proves to be misguided, and before we know it we're back to being alone and we've downed two bottles of champagne and we've misplaced our left hand up an innocent, relative stranger's Old Navy undershorts.

I feel badly for this guy, despite his very glib Devil-may-care attitude about the whole thing, but in the end, he's proving an important point: The gays, like the straights, are only human.