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It's good to be from Massachusetts
May. 17th, 2004 03:13 pmIt's an exciting day in history, with the first same-sex marriage licenses being issued. I'm excited that I made it down to Cambridge City Hall a bit before midnight for the festivities (and festive they certainly were), and I'm proud that my little state was the first to take this step.
In spite of the fact that we'd danced all weekend long, at the instigation of one of my teammates, we put together musicians and a side of dancers for some guerilla Morris. Dancers from Red Herring Morris (my team, from Belmont) and Cold Barn Morris from Hamilton, Ontario met for a hasty practice, and then Cold Herring (or Red Barn?) Morris was off to City Hall to bring the luck of the Morris to the happy couples.
We decided it was wisest not to bring sticks into a crowded and potentially politically charged area, so we limited ourselves to hanky dances. Given what we all knew in common, it took a bit of creativity, but we pulled it off.
We performed Haste to the Wedding (it was a moral imperative, really), Highland Mary, Young Collins, and, of course, Bonnie Green Garters to end the evening.
The crowd was friendly & celebratory. There were perhaps a dozen protesters in total (almost none of them from Massachusetts from what I could tell), and they were, as one person put it, "woefully ineffective." The crowd cheered when the 4 or 5 remaining Phelps-folk gave up and went away. The police had no problems with us dancing in the middle of the street, between the post office and City Hall. The crowds parted happily to make space for us, lots of people gathered 'round to watch us dance, the media interviewed us, film crews filmed us, and lots of folks came up to us and thanked us sincerely for coming out and dancing for the occasion.
I don't usually go out for events like this, but I'm really glad that I did. It'll be great to look back and be able to say, "I was there."
In spite of the fact that we'd danced all weekend long, at the instigation of one of my teammates, we put together musicians and a side of dancers for some guerilla Morris. Dancers from Red Herring Morris (my team, from Belmont) and Cold Barn Morris from Hamilton, Ontario met for a hasty practice, and then Cold Herring (or Red Barn?) Morris was off to City Hall to bring the luck of the Morris to the happy couples.
We decided it was wisest not to bring sticks into a crowded and potentially politically charged area, so we limited ourselves to hanky dances. Given what we all knew in common, it took a bit of creativity, but we pulled it off.
We performed Haste to the Wedding (it was a moral imperative, really), Highland Mary, Young Collins, and, of course, Bonnie Green Garters to end the evening.
The crowd was friendly & celebratory. There were perhaps a dozen protesters in total (almost none of them from Massachusetts from what I could tell), and they were, as one person put it, "woefully ineffective." The crowd cheered when the 4 or 5 remaining Phelps-folk gave up and went away. The police had no problems with us dancing in the middle of the street, between the post office and City Hall. The crowds parted happily to make space for us, lots of people gathered 'round to watch us dance, the media interviewed us, film crews filmed us, and lots of folks came up to us and thanked us sincerely for coming out and dancing for the occasion.
I don't usually go out for events like this, but I'm really glad that I did. It'll be great to look back and be able to say, "I was there."
