"But you know that I would give you...

just this once, twice, forever...Cause baby, you could drag me to hell and back just as long as we're together...And you doooooooooo.........."

Let's hope it doesn't turn out that way, but George Michael is getting married. He's getting hitched to his boyfriend of ten years, Kenny Goss. I'm glad for them that Britain is letting those who want to marry someone of their own gender have that opportunity. Same goes for Elton and David Furnish, too, because they're adorable. George sounds a little less touched by the whole thing, however:

"I'm not very romantic about it to be honest," he said. "I think Kenny probably would be if I let him, but it's just not me. We want to do it, just in case. You never know, I could get hit by a bus and the poor man could have nothing."

You know, I'm just all for happiness. It's totally underrated, and it has nothing to do with laws or religion, that's for sure. (Although maybe these happy couples are grinning a little bigger because they have a billion dollars. Just a guess.) Can you imagine these wedding registries?

I was just listening to "Freedom" though, a Wham song from when they were first hugely popular, and that got me thinking about all of this. I guess that was my sophomore year in high school, TWENTY YEARS AGO. Gah! And I was remembering how my friend Barbara was TOTALLY IN LOVE with George Michael at the time, and wrote "Mrs. Barbara Michael" and "Barbie Michael" and "Mrs. Michael" and "Barbara hearts George" in bubble letters all over her binder. Of course I had no pride either, as at the time I was holding my kilt closed with Duran Duran buttons and wearing a fedora hat all the time and submitting my first short stories in creative writing class about mine and John Taylor's HONEYMOON on Ibiza, and I didn't even know where in the hell Ibiza WAS. I just knew they filmed videos there, and that was just dandy fine with me.  These were the worst stories EVER. They were so terrible. They are in a box somewhere and the next time I find them I'm burning them sacrificially.

But whereas this lovely bass god turned out to be straight as an arrow (and ain't Gela Taylor lucky...damn. He gets better with age, I swear. It's disgusting,) George eventually shared his preference for men with the world. This was not, of course, until 1998, way after he got busy with that woman in that "I Want Your Sex" video.  I was no longer in touch with Barbara by then, but I did think about her and wonder if she was a teeny bit disappointed. ; )

Personally, I thought "Hell, yeah. Whatever. Preach it, Father Figure. But you so did dig that girl in that video."  And now I give England much credit for allowing people who live in partnership to acknowledge it if they want - to provide for each other financially, to be able to speak up for each other if they get sick - to bring it on home, so to speak. It's really as simple as that - no matter what our government is stuck on. Whatever it is, it isn't exactly freedom.

Comments

[Karen McCarthy]

I remember that fedora! You were adorable! I don't specifically remember your Duran Duran obsession, but there was a girl (I don't remember her name) who was so obsessed with Bon Jovi that she carved his name in her leg so she would have a scar ... woh ...
Karen