I love this story for two reasons. First, it encourages my thinking that not owning a house right now is not the worst thing in the world; the difference between us having bought over the summer and waiting until next summer or the summer after that, price-wise, is likely to be negligible due to a flat market, and in the meantime we can save the money we're not paying toward the mortgage faster than the combination of appreciation and chipping away at the principal would have gained us equity in the first two years. All we're losing is time.
But the second reason is more exciting. This article is one of more and more articles that appear in the mainstream media that matter-of-factly present a gay couple as an example of an issue that has an impact on everyone. What will ultimately make gay equality a reality isn't petitions and fundraisers and protest, though those are important. It's opening paragraphs like this one:
Travel agent Terry Likens and his partner, contractor Duane Przybilla, own a three-bedroom, four-bath townhouse in Eden Prairie, Minn. They would rather have a single-family house with more space and a backyard.What could be more subversive? Without once using the words "gay" or "marriage" or even "civil union," the article presents a gay couple facing the same issues as any straight one, handling them in the same way. The cumulative effect of articles like this is that gay couples are normalized, as is the idea that, yes, indeed, gay men can have a stable life. When that idea takes root, equal rights won't be far behind.
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