Gay Marriage Debate Tonight (in a World Without Thatcher)

It is probably for the best that Cy Curnin of the Fixx did not know when I saw the band perform last night that Margaret Thatcher would die today. 

Like all too many of my favorite British creative folk of recent decades, he’s very left-leaning and probably thinks of Thatcher as almost a Satan-figure (though I have no reason to believe he will say anything inappropriate today).  She and Reagan tend to be the implied sources of madness in the West balancing the madness among the Soviets in New Wave-era songs like “Stand or Fall,” though I love all that music anyway.

And the juxtaposition of last night’s New Wave concert and tonight’s Dionysium debate on gay marriage (Dorian Davis vs. Mike Woods, moderated by me, 8pm at Muchmore’s, 2 Havemeyer St. near the Bedford Ave. L stop in Williamsburg) has me thinking that the Iron Lady will surely be remembered as doing more to alter perceptions of women in the British Isles than all those fey rockers, much as I admire both.  There was really never reason for them to quarrel. 

At the very least, no matter how fey the audience turns out to be – gay, hipster, nerd, what have you – tonight, let there be at least a toast to Thatcher’s memory.  I vow to lead one.  During the audience discussion, thoughts on Thatcher will be as welcome as thoughts on the gay marriage debate. 

But tonight’s proceedings need not be funereal.  Here are a few funny items to keep you in good spirits until this evening:

•Brian the dog on Family Guy manages to be endearing even when being homophobic (here reacting to Stewie’s gay-seeming documentary narration).

•Apparently, Brown University soon may literally be stealing our dreams, with their crazy brain-science-machines.

•Here’s a funny yet rational retort to all-too-common online conspiracy-theory videos (yet this video, last I checked, has more “dislikes” than “likes,” whereas almost any pro-conspiracy-theory nut seems to be rewarded with likes, a disturbing imbalance).  This one specifically mocks people who think an earlier video reveals an alien shapeshifter in Obama’s entourage, part of a larger “reptilian” or extraterrestrial invasion.

•Here’s one mocking equally-common videos purporting to spot life-on-Mars evidence in real NASA footage.

The real world is more than fascinating (and confusing) enough without deluding ourselves.  And, though certainly no politician is all good, that world is likely a bit freer for Margaret Thatcher having lived in it.