California Decriminalizes Marijuana, Glee’s Got Lady-Queer Icons, Happiness Still Exists

WEED:

It’s been a long fucking week, guys. I was going to just make up a post about how Lady Gaga had sex with a unicorn and gave birth to world peace. BUT GUESS WHAT. I don’t have to, because California decriminalized weed, and so I can go on tomorrow with the conviction that there is some kind of higher power, and that good still exists in the world. Really, stop me if I’m being melodramatic, but tell me that you did not just live through the week/month/everything that we just had and then look at this news story and not cry a little, the way you do at a wedding or when a baby is born. This is beautiful. We are grateful.

me: do you think i can i make this the top story
laneia: do it, this is the best news i’ve heard possibly all week

THIS CAT WOULD ONLY HAVE TO PAY A SMALL FINE

Now, while decriminalizing marijuana is not the same thing as legalizing it, the penalties for being caught possessing less than an ounce are SIGNIFICANTLY less.

Those caught with less than an ounce of marijuana will still receive a maximum penalty of $100. However, Senate Bill 1449 reduces the legal categorization of marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction. This means that those caught will not have to appear in court, pay court fees or receive a criminal record. Schwarzenegger opposes Proposition 19, a pending referendum that will provide a legal framework for the sale, cultivation and taxation of marijuana. However, despite this opposition, Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law.

I know right? Little things. Small miracles.

BRITTANA/GLEE:

Look, someone else on the internet is almost as excited about Brittany and Santana touching each other’s vaginas as we are. They’re queer icons! “For me, Brittany and Santana represent a new mode of queer figure, similar to the adolescents described in Ritch Savin-Williams’s The New Gay Teenager: fluidly sexual, comfortable with same sex contacts, and more interested in finding happiness than finding the right label. They may not fit into the rigid strictures of traditional sexual identities, but they’re comfortable enough with themselves not to care.” (@jezebel)

TRANSGENDER STAR:

Cassandra Cass is joining the ranks of successful trans TV stars who are increasing visibility and changing hearts. When Showtime came up with “Wild Things,” Cass was cast as one of three transgender people on a road trip across small-town California, working at odd jobs to raise money for an ill relative. The eight-episode show, now midway through its run, airs at midnight on Showtime’s Sho 2 and Showtime Showcase channels. It’s equal parts midnight movie, catfight and tear-jerker. With the cowboys and mechanics they meet along the way, the stars discuss their troubled upbringings and the discrimination they’ve faced from people who can’t accept them. Cass said she has not been invited home for the holidays in years and has nieces and nephews she has never met.” (@ontd)

WONDER WOMAN:

Probs it would be best to find a Technostraddler for this, but they’re not here so we’re just gonna run with it. Wonder Woman is getting her own TV show guys! That is a thing that’s happening. The original article seems to kind of miss the point on why this is awesome (“Wonder Woman has presented a challenge both for feature and TV creators. That’s probably because she is the most famous female superhero in the testosterone-dominated comic world. And because she also is a big feminist icon.”) but that does not mean we will not be excited for/watch it. Who will play her/who will we see in a shiny patriotic bustier? Only time will tell! (@deadline)

DADT:

In actual important news, the new head of the Marines, James Amos, is a general who has voiced definite support of a DADT repeal in the past. He says that the Marines will still obey the law, whatever that turns out to be, but I’ve said that about a lot of things, and now I work for this website! So, you know, light on the horizon. (@advocate)

IN CASE OF GAGA:

Also, you know, there’s this. Obviously. (@bestweekever)

Is that any better? Do you feel okay? Are you able to face the week? I wanna make you feel better. Look, here are some vegan cookies and here is a poem I like that makes me feel better sometimes. I don’t know. I love you. Let’s all make each other happier today.

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Rachel

Originally from Boston, MA, Rachel now lives in the Midwest. Topics dear to her heart include bisexuality, The X-Files and tacos. Her favorite Ciara video is probably "Ride," but if you're only going to watch one, she recommends "Like A Boy." You can follow her on twitter and instagram.

Rachel has written 1142 articles for us.

37 Comments

  1. The Marines like us! This is going to making watching NCIS so much better! And WEED! What a glorious day.

  2. Yes, please, let’s start this week in a positive way! The paragraphs are all running together in my brain. Yay for stoned unicorns dancing to Gaga after hearing that they get to be gay Marines! Marinicorns?
    Ahh, Sunday.

  3. I feel a little stoned myself after looking at all the in-caps WEED references. I’ve never been stoned and will never be stoned but I’m going to pretend this is what it’s like, okay?

  4. If someone did that on the plane to demonstrate SAFETY.. I would get the hell off that plane.

    This Wonder Woman news is kinda..meh to me. I want my justice league movie.

    • You know, I keep hearing people say this, but… how often do you (or anyone else on the plane) actually pay attention that that thing? I do, but more out of politeness than anything else (I get all the plane-specific info off the safety card anyway), but most of the people around me are usually engrossed in books or having conversations or whatever.

      I guaran-friggin-teee you that people were watching that safety demonstration.

  5. If Lady Gaga does have sex with a unicorn and gives birth to world peace, I will not complain. Not after this week. I’m pretty sure world peace would be nice right about now and I’m usually for punching kittens in the face.

    Everything about this post pleases me.

  6. It has been a really rough week. On top of all the heartbreaking news, I decided for some unknown reason to break out of my little queer bubble and into the so-called real world. I don’t know what I was expecting … acceptance and understanding or something insane like that. I haven’t cried this much in over a year.

    • P.S. Thanks for trying to trying to cheer me up, Autostraddle. I’m not quite there yet, but it helped. I’m gonna go watch Desert Hearts and bake cookies and pretend this isn’t the world I live in until I can stand to face it again.

  7. I hate to be the burst one of these bubbles but the guy who was just picked to lead the Marines is PRO DADT, not PRO REPEAL. From The Advocate:

    “Gen. James Amos, who recently said he opposes the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the next head of the Marine Corps, the Associated Press reports.”

    I feel bad for wrecking that for folks, so here’s a creepy and hilarious slow-mo video of the Olsen twins rapping. Probs best to watch after indulging in some of that decriminalized weed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wusGIl3v044

    • I noticed that too, but I was under the impression that there’s something I’m missing. Has he really supported the repeal in the past?

  8. Sadly, no. He’s voiced his opinions on this pretty publicly a few times. He’s against the repeal, says it would hurt morale: “Conway has previously suggested that the Marines would consider separate quarters for gay service members if Congress repeals the policy, explaining that Marines don’t want to bunk with gay service members because they are “very religious.”” http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=6437&Category=25&MediaType=1

  9. i’m eating poppy seed bread. isn’t that like weed? wasn’t that the main message in the wizard of oz?

  10. I had CNN on a lot at work because it’s the only channel we have that isn’t infomercials between 2-6 (besides ESPN but I got tired of Sports Center’s massive hard on for Michael fucking Vick) and it’s been constant coverage of the young man from Rutgers and it’s been really depressing (though good to see the media caring about gay bullying and related issues).

    But my weekend was made better by two things:

    1) the Sooner State Rodeo, one of 28 members of the International Gay Rodeo Association, held its event just outside of town this weekend and I didn’t even know they had gay rodeos but it was fun seeing them all here

    2) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103699403028170&ref=search a group in support of a Michigan transgender student who was elected Prom King despite the administration’s assertion that they are ineligible because school records list sex as female

    And now Wonder Woman on teevee! Yay!

  11. Oh Cebu Pacific. The boarding-music they play is so loud that it feels like you’re trying to find your seat in a club, AND they play trivia games mid-flight (just ask them, they are the only SE Asia airline that plays games during the flight). All I am saying, is I’ve flown with them at least 20 times and they have NEVER done that before so I feel ripped off.

  12. DID I HEAR WONDER WOMAN IS GETTING HER OWN SHOW…
    THIS MAKES ABOT 95% OF MY TEE SHIRTS, BELTS (AND BUCKLES) AND ALL THE OTHER STUFF IN MY CLOSET AND COMIC BOOK COLLECTION RELEVANT AGAIN!!!!!
    IM SO EXCITED

  13. I’ve lived in California my entire life. Last week I moved up to Seattle for college.

    ONE WEEK AGO. ONE WEEK BEFORE POT WAS DECRIMINALIZED.

    ihateironyihateironyihateirony

    • Seattle is only 2 hours from Vancouver if you drive quickly and have good luck with the border wait. And only a maximum of 3.5 hours if you do not drive quickly and/or have bad luck at the border. And in Vancouver, police officers approach people smoking tobacco to tell them that they are disturbing the public with their cigarettes while NOT saying the same thing to the people smoking weed right next to the people smoking cigarettes. It’s even better than California, in Canada, and you’re only 2 – 3.5 hours away!

      • Ahhhhh, good suggestion! I was looking for an excuse to go up to British Columbia anyway haha. Actually, my RA just told me that the cops around the U District are supposedly pretty lenient about that sort of thing, but I don’t think I’ll take the risk. Onward to Canada, then!

        • Oh don’t even worry in the U District. I am with your RA on that! My friends that smoke weed the most are the ones that went to u-dub, they never had an issue.

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