F**k Your Petition

So, this morning I'm strolling through the Internet, you know, browsing, making a comment here and there, when I stumble upon the news that there is a petition circulating to allow Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie to get married. Cute, right?

Wrong; this incensed me. Incensed.Me. And not because I'm anti-Muppet, but because I don't want to waste one single iota of my life signing frivolous, cutesy petitions for felt characters to get married when there are real issues out there.

Like, say, Bradford Wells and Australian John Makk. They been partners for nineteen years, and were legally married in Massachusetts seven years ago. But, John Makk is Australian and his visa has expired and he's being forced to leave the country.

And someone wants my name on a Muppet petition?

Citing that old bigoted, hate-filled DOMA, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services denied John Makk's application for residency, even though he meets several of the criteria needed. he is the spouse, the legal spouse, of an American citizen, and he is the sole caregiver of said American citizen; he has no criminal history whatsoever and he has resided in this country, under various visas, for many year.

Too bad, so sad, you're gay, get out.

But, um, could you sign this petition for Bert and Ernie before you go?

Where's the petition for Bradford Wells and John Makk? And for countless other same-sex, bi-national couples facing deportation because they happen to reside in a backasswards country that doesn't recognize their marriage? We all giggle and coo over the idea of fucking Muppets getting married and just sit back and do nothing while a real-life couple is torn apart.