[Ansteorra] Same-Gender Consort Proposal

[Chris Zakes]

At 04:40 PM 7/18/2012, you wrote:

>Greetings to my Ansteorran countrymen and friends.
>
>There was a time when I believed those two terms were synonymous, 
>but the whole bilious discussion of inspirational equality has shown 
>me just how incredibly wrong I was.
>
>I have been a member of the SCA since 1979 when I attended my first 
>event. I have held offices, been recognized as a peer. I try and 
>solve problems as I can, in my oh-so-charming confrontational way. I 
>have fought in Crown Tournament, and I have had fighters honor me by 
>asking me to be their consort when they fought in Crown Tournament. 
>I have also had the experience of asking a Crown to be allowed to 
>fight in Crown Tournament for the one who is, above all else, the 
>source of my inspiration, the person whose regard drives me to want 
>to be a better person and a better peer.  The Crown, with sincere 
>regret, was forced to disallow my choice because of Corpora, because 
>I wished to fight for my lady Damaris, who has been my touchstone 
>for all that is good and beautiful and right with the world for 
>going on 18 years now.
>
>I am gay, as are many other respected peers and nobles in the 
>Society. Who I sleep with never made a difference in my teaching 
>ability, my arts, or my ability to lead others. Nor has it had any 
>impact that I can discern on whether or not I was granted awards and 
>honors within our Society.
>
>With the discussion of same-gender consorts, I have seen some truly 
>unexpected ugliness laid bare in some of you.
>
>First you claimed that it was unhistorical to have same-sex rulers. 
>People dug and researched and proved this to be untrue.
>
>Then you claimed the world would end if they had no Queen to be 
>their inspiration.

Who is this "you"of which you speak? In the current discussion, *I* 
am the only person who's raised the question of not having a Queen 
during a reign. To be precise, I said "And as a rapier fighter, White 
Scarf, leader of the Legion of Swashbucklers and Elisabethan 
gentleman, I *really* don't like the idea of not having a Queen." 
Nothing there about the world ending, or the kingdom coming to a 
crashing halt, just expressing my own preferences.

During the original discussion last year, someone asked:

"What will it hurt? Will it hurt how you play the SCA?"

And I replied:

"I'm not sure if "hurt" is quite the right word, but it would 
certainly *affect* the way I play in the SCA, for that reign. I'm a 
rapier fighter and a White Scarf. For me, Queen's Champion is the 
most important tournament in the kingdom. Ansteorra's Queen's 
Champion Touranment is unique in the SCA--an entire day devoted to 
Her Majesty, where the King takes a very definite back seat. Talk to 
Her Majesty, or some of the Ladies of the Rose about how special that day is.

Most other kingdoms have some kind of Queen's Champion--sometimes 
it's the person who came in second in Crown Tourney, sometimes it's 
someone the Queen picks, some kingdoms have a King's and Queen's 
armored and/or rapier champion--but nobody else dedicates an entire 
event to the pleasure of Her Majesty.

And yes, we could, concievably, have a Consort's Champion rapier 
tournament, but trust me, it wouldn't be the same."

And a couple of days later I said:

"I am *not* saying we shouldn't have same-sex Crowns, my biggest 
concern is the effect it would have on Queen's Champion. And 
realistically, unless we had several male-male Crowns in a row, I 
think we'd survive one reign without a Queen's Champion, or with a 
Consort's Champion. Although it's relatively ancient history now, 
we've survived Queen's who weren't terribly interested in rapier in the past."

If that's coming across as "ugliness" then maybe we need to work on 
our communication skills a bit more.

         -Tivar Moondragon