Comments on: Dreaming the Common Language: A Guest Post by Miguel Murphy

By: Mary Meriam

Mary Meriam — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:25:10 +0000

Queries
by Mary Meriam
My nearest, my queerest,
my conjugal dearest,
my closest, my mostest,
what shall I call you?
My lavender gayspeak,
queerspeak and queenspeak,
lost lambda pipsqueak,
your name preference, please?
My love, my dove,
my heaven above,
my who I want more of,
what, what, what?
Mon amour, mi amigo,
spouse in my house,
muse who I choose,
q’est-ce que c’est le bon mot?
My Rae of hope,
my missing mishpochah,
my saving grace,
a bissel hint-hint?
Significant other,
this one, not another,
my own homo lover,
onomastically who?
Woman plus woman,
man plus man,
an accepted plan,
I pronounce you, nu?
Will you marae me?
Darling, what did you say?
The word is marae.
Will you be my rae?
rae [RAY]
-noun – the affectionate, legal, and religious term for
the spouse or partner of a gay or lesbian person.
marae [ma-RAY]
-verb – to join as spouses or to take as a spouse,
in the marriage of a gay or lesbian person.
The neologisms rae and marae are derived
from “My Rae,” the name Lillian Faderman gave to her
courageous and devoted aunt. As a new term for gay and
lesbian partners, “my rae” honors Lillian Faderman’s
tremendous courage and devotion to gays and lesbians.
“Marae” means “sacred place” in Polynesia. At the marae,
culture is celebrated, customs are explored and debated,
and weddings and birthdays are held.
First published in Chiron Review Winter 2008

By: Yumn_v

Yumn_v — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:58:48 +0000

I come from a hispanic Irish background
I have two gay sons and I knew it I knew it as son as they started to walk and explore.
I hace raised my kids Never allowing them to judge others but to treat and respect everyones opinion.
I treated my kids equally the boys and the girls too…
but there was always that ache in the pit of my stomach not about the fact that they were gay but because I Knew, I knew the pain and the suffering they would endure in years to come.
So as my kids grew I would speak to them accordding to thier age I never singled my girls out or my boy’s but I did tell them that I was there to try and find all the answers no matter what it was and i just waited…One day before school was out for the summer maybe three days or so…….it was my day off and I was sitting on a recliner watching T.V.
Well I could here my daughter and my soon running up the street..
Paulies face was glowing red as can be but he was also excited..he says to me, mom there is something I have to tell you! and I looked my son in the eyes and with a big smileI said I said “what that you finally found out you are Gay!…. my son looks at me and saidTHAT’S NOT COOL MOM!
AND i SAID WHY AND HE TOLD ME YOU TOOK THE FUN OUT OF IT!!!! how did you know ma and I said paulie i have known since you were a tot…I was just waiting for you to tell me son.
I hugged him and kissed him with my heart broken in two. Not because he was gay but because I knew how cruel people can be..lot’s of biggots out there.Afew weeks later Jon came out. And my lord what two great and wonderful men they are ! yumn

By: Francisco Aragón

Francisco Aragón — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:42:00 +0000

Hi Miguel:
Thank you for this. And thank you, Javier, for providing this visible space, for this passionate post.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:09:41 +0000

I enjoyed reading this, Miguelito.