Fridae

Eclipsing Massachusetts' depressing media reports on the legislative Civil Union debate is the celebrated coverage on same-sex couples tying the knot in San Francisco.

Love, suddenly, is in season this Valentine's weekend. In metropolitan cities, from San Francisco to Singapore, single gay men and lesbian women who were once proudly brandishing their single-hood, donning their fashionable jaded bitterness and a matching set of promiscuity, are the major faux-pas this season. Overnight, monogamous permanent partnership has become the "in thing."

And right in the center of this media storm is, of course, the recently elected (and uber-hottie) Mayor Gavin Newsom who permitted the issuance of marriage licenses. Deserving accolades should be heaped on Newsom, a happily married heterosexual public official, for his defiantly courageous effort. After all, he could have as easily turn a blind eye and walk away from this potentially career-debilitating political move. Yet, he took it upon himself to catalyse the community's continuous struggle to the threshold of equality.

Having said that, we should not overlook the hard work by the countless people involved behind-the-scenes. They are the little people who help the big people into office, or out.

They are people like my sister and her partner who work in grassroots campaign supporting Newsom into office late last year.

They are people like my friend John calling on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign encouraging voters to place pressure on their anti-queer rights public representatives.

They are the little people behind-the-scenes who are making a big difference.

Yes, we need queer or queer-friendly politicians and public officials (a.k.a. Mayor Hottie) to be in office or those who are not (a.k.a. Big Bad Bush or B.B.B.) out - only then, can we expect significant institutional changes to combat homophobia.

But B.B.B. may not be our great enemy. Not even the Pope in Vatican City or anti-queer rights groups. We should disengage from the common "us-versus-them" false dichotomy heavily abused by the Big Bad Bush, and entertain that our Great Enemy may very well be ourselves.

Complacency. That's our Great Enemy.

There is reason to celebrate this past weekend, but we cannot afford to be complacent. The fight is far from over. There is much work to be done. Already, there have been mounting backlashes and oppositions.

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Lawsuits barring the issuance of marriage licenses have been filed and B.B.B. is quickly garnering Congressional support in restricting the institution of marriage exclusively to heterosexual couples through a Constitutional amendment.

Given the recent media blitz and looming public pressure that would follow, a Supreme Court (the highest Court in the States) hearing to determine the constitutionality of same-sex marriage would not be too far from the horizon as well.

Even though, or especially as, Civil Unions and even marriages have come into existence and the accompanying barrage of pro-queers media coverage have been embracing and positive, they should not be misconstrued as real acceptance and total tolerance.

In times like these, it's even more important for voting-eligible members of the public to vote. Those who are not can always work on campaigns supporting queer-friendly public officials. And trust me, there's nothing as too much volunteers in grass-roots campaigns.

And if wearing buttons or displaying bumper stickers is not exactly your cup of tea, you can do simpler alternatives such as familiarising yourselves with the issues. It is as simple as that. And as I've have mentioned sometime before, it is not entirely necessary to conduct a grandiose sense of political and social activism. You do what you can.

Educate yourself and then, you can perhaps educate others. You can hold your ground when others question your beliefs. You can influence and persuade and win over people in your daily life, even if the rate of success is only one person.

That one person could be the voter who sways the vote in legalising same-sex marriage.

That one person could be the bigot whose homophobic point of view you have altered and hate-motivated crime you have prevented.

That one person could be the young closeted girl inspired to dream of that wedded bliss as a lesbian in years to come as she goes on a date this Valentine's Day.

In our own little way, we could be the little people like John and my sister who made the big picture filled with hope. We could be the little people who overcome our Great Enemy. We could be the little people who make all the difference.

Let's not make same-sex marriage an "in thing" just for this season, but for every season.

Born and raised in various parts of Asia, Jason Woo is a writer presently based in Los Angeles. His column is also currently featured on newsjourney.com and available for syndication. You can contact him at mail@jasonwoo.com.