Free Mahu Fire by Neil Plakcy Page A

bathroom again. The sweaty guy still hadn’t come out, and I worried that if he was throwing up, there could be a big mess.
    “Things are a lot better for me now than they were when I was sixteen, even though the HIV is making a mess of my body,” Vic continued, running a hand over his forehead. “I’ve got a good job, district sales manager for the Pacific Rim for a big farm equipment manufacturer. I’m in love with a great guy, and we own our own little house. You all should come over and see us sometime.”
    He pointed at Gunter. “Especially you,” he said, and Gunter blushed. “The point of all this, though, is how easily that can get taken away from me. From us, from me and Jerry.” He started walking again. “I’m the primary breadwinner in our household. Jerry builds some of the most beautiful hand-carved furniture you’ll ever see, but he’s still developing his business. You know how expensive it is to get health insurance as a small businessman? I’ll bet some of you know.”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bathroom door open, and the sweaty guy slipped out. I couldn’t get a good look at his face, though, and that irritated me. I’d probably wake up in the middle of the night and remember that I’d met him at a bar.
    Vic continued, “My company doesn’t offer domestic partner benefits, and they probably never will. So I can’t put Jerry on my health insurance. I can’t pass on my pension to him, or my social security when I die. If I get sick, the hospital may not even let Jerry in to see me, or let him make decisions for me. I’ve got this goddamned Bible-thumping bitch of a sister who lives here in Honolulu now, and if she gets wind of me being sick she’s going to take that opportunity to come on in and take over my life, no matter what kind of papers Jerry and I fill out.”
    I twisted around in my seat to look for the sweaty guy again. I just couldn’t let go of it—I knew I recognized him from somewhere. But I couldn’t find him in the crowd.
    Vic was standing at the podium. “You see, without a marriage license the government presumes your blood family knows what’s best for you,” he said. “Until gay men can legally marry each other, until lesbians can legally marry each other, teenaged kids are still going to keep thinking there’s something wrong with them when they find they’re attracted to their same sex. Until the government treats us like every other citizens, with the right to serve in the military, to receive the legal benefits of marriage, to be protected from discrimination in our homes and on our jobs, we are not going to be able to enjoy the benefits of full citizenship in the United States.”
    He gripped the edges of the podium and stared out at us. “Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked too damn hard to become a citizen here to give up any of the things I’m entitled to. You all feel the same way?”
    The audience applauded. “You going to fight to get us the benefits we deserve?” More cheering and applause. He walked over to a Jerry, took him by the hand and stood him up. “This is Jerry, folks. I said I’d show him off to you.”
    “Hi, everybody,” Jerry said.
    Vic held both their hands up. “I want everybody here to see this. I love this guy and I want to marry him. That’s why he and I are joining the lawsuit tomorrow. And we’re both pledging to do whatever we can to make sure that gay kids can grow up to feel proud of who they are, because they have the legal right to be, and love, whoever they want.”
    The applause was loud and long.

BLOW UP
    I pushed my chair back from the table. “I ate too much. The food was great.” I thought I’d get up and walk around the room a bit, walk off some of the food and look for the sweaty guy again. He was kind of cute, after all, and if I could figure out where I’d met him before, I could go up to him and chat.
    “Better watch out,” Gunter said. “Too much rich foods build