The More Things Change

I know I’ve mentioned before how much I love the show “House Hunters” on HGTV. I do, I love it. I love it for many reasons, not the least of which is my voyeuristic tendencies to want to see inside other people’s houses. But it’s more than that – I enjoy how they don’t just focus on one particular type of house hunt. Some hunts are for houses around $100k, and some are for houses upwards of $600-$800k. I love seeing the types of houses that are more traditional in various parts of the country, and how a house hunt in Arizona is different than a house hunt in Delaware.

Beyond that, I like how the show always seems to pick normal people to follow. And when I say “normal” people, I really mean that they pick a wide variety of ages, sizes, incomes and families. They may show a newlywed young couple one day, and then a same-sex older couple the next. One show it’s a family from India, the next it’s an interracial couple in Washington DC. The best part is they don’t comment on the house hunters, and I don’t think they have a particular “agenda” in showing these varying people. These are just the normal, varied people that live in this country, who are looking for houses to buy to continue their lives in a new community. I love that. I love that seeing these varied people on a basic-cable house hunting program shows that this is what normal looks like – it’s diverse, and that diversity is so accepted that really, it’s not even worth mentioning.

On any other day, I wouldn’t bother mentioning it. But I read this news story today, about an interracial couple in Louisiana who were denied a marriage license by a judge. I wish I could express just how much this infuriated me, since it’s been over 40 years since this should even be an issue. And even 40 years ago, it was 100 years too late.

Instead, I’ll just send my best thoughts to the couple as they start their new life together. Who knows, maybe they’ll end up on their own episode of “House Hunters” someday to find their dream house. I hope they do.