For instance, we have the freedom of religion, speech, and our right to choose. Even American women have more freedoms than women in certain countries who choose to degrade them because of their gender. We tend to look down on these people because it is different from ours and we just do not understand it. To the people practicing traditions or religions that we may not understand, their way of life is normal to them.
In recent days, it has been nationwide news that the state of California is over ruling the ban on gay marriage. Some people celebrated while others hissed and yelled that this was wrong. What I don't understand is why in a country so proud of their freedoms, we will not let EVERYONE be free. We pride ourselves on being equals, yet only some people are equal enough to be married. We are excited to show our affection to the ones we love, but they must be of the opposite gender. We take our full pages of newspapers to announce weddings, but only a male and female couple can pay for the ad space.
What is wrong with this picture? I'm not saying that we are like the countries that only let men vote or where women have to walk five feet behind a man. I am saying that if we are so proud of our freedom, why not let EVERYONE be free?
Marriage is not a something that should have been voted on. Marriage is showing the person that you love that you want to be with them forever. A judge cannot go up to a heterosexual couple and say "I give you permission to be married." He can officiate a wedding, but that is just showing that it is a legal, binding step. Some people I know are upset that the ruling was overturned because everyone had voted and they thought that the vote should stick. Did anyone vote to say if they could be married? Do we have to vote if they want to get divorced?
Honestly, there is nothing wrong with people of the same sex being married. It does not ruin the family structure. It does not degrade marriage. Nothing happens when two people of the same sex get married. Just because it is legal does not mean I am going to go out and marry a woman (obviously because I am heterosexual and already married). Also, many people say that they do not want to see homosexual couples showing their affection. Do you remember how I mentioned that we took out full page ads to announce how much we love someone? Do you hear anyone complaining about that? Plus, don't you think that a homosexual couple wants to see us displaying our affection? I don't want to hear how something is or is not "normal". The way I eat my M&M's is not normal and no one has a problem with that.
Then there is the argument about homosexual couples having babies. Some people argue that homosexual couples adopting or having a baby is not good because their needs to be both a male and female presence in a babies life. Hold the phone!!!! What about families where the parents are divorced and one or the other parents are not their to take care of the kids and neither parent gets remarried? How is that different? I know plenty of people who are raising their kids alone and their children turn out perfectly fine. Or what about the military families that have one member of the family gone for a year at a time? I know the person overseas will come back home, but what if the baby is in a crucial developmental time in their lives and they only have one parent to raise them? I support the armed forces, but that is not an ideal situation to be in either.
I have also heard that excuse that if a child grows up with two parents that are both male or female, they will tend to have the characteristics of those parents. Well aren't we all like that? However, you cannot contract homosexuality. It is not a choice, it is not learned. It just happens. I had a good friend in college who was gay and one night at work we were talking about how difficult it is to be gay in a small town. He was telling me some of his stories and I asked him "What do you think when someone asks you why you chose to be gay?" He said "That is crazy. Why would I choose to be something so many people hate?" Well said.
I know that my arguments are not strong, but I just want you to think about how groups of people feel when they are told that they cannot marry the one they love because they are just like you and me, only they love another man or woman. It is not fair, it is not right. We are not completely free until everyone is free to be who they are on the inside and out.
Until next time...
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