T-shirt Love Wins 6/26/15

June 26, 2015. The US Supreme Court votes 5 to 4 in favor of same-sex marriage—a tremendous human rights victory for the LGBTQ community, and for our society as a whole. The day before this historic event, I was driving to the post office when I spotted what appeared to be an empty bird cage alongside the road in the Gray's Ferry district of Philadelphia—a rough area of town littered with abandoned buildings, cars, tires, junk—and a bird cage? I had to see if there were any birds inside. There were. Two budgies, one blue, one green, lay dead at the bottom of the closed cage in the hot summer sun. The green bird had clipped wings. Both birds were emaciated, and probably starved and dehydrated to death. I wept for them and brought them home, unable to leave them like that. They had been a pair. A couple. Bonded. I did a few sketches of the birds in my studio. Then, yesterday, when I heard the news about the Supreme Court ruling, I rejoiced! At last! Justice and freedom to marry for all! It seemed only appropriate to immortalize the little budgies with a triumphant celebration of all the colors of the rainbow. I don't know if they were male and female, or two males, or two females. Pet shops can't even tell, and just sell them in pairs. They could have been a same-sex couple. And that is just as beautiful as any other bond.