Legitimize Love

No government has the right to tell its citizens whom to love.

The only queer people are those who don't love anybody. - Rita Mae Brown

Over twenty years of marriage, we've had our ups and downs. We have been through incidents that would make lesser couples buckle, turn tail and run. Our major issue has been that we are a multi-ethnic couple. Among our friends, the couples we know have been together for 35 or more years. We look to them for advice when we feel a rough patch coming on for us. It if of no consequence that we receive advice from a few same sex couples. They have endured far more than my husband and me.

The biggest problem we have is nothing compared to having to worry about what would happen if one of us were to become ill. I know that my husband is considered my next of kin. He will honor my choices whether or not he agrees or disagrees with them. He can visit me, take care of my assets. It is a given that unless I have something else drawn up,he has my power of attorney. Robert and Luke don't have that luxury. 36 years of being a soul unite, finishing each other's sentences, taking care of each other when each was ill. Once Robert was in ICU, his family arrived and barred Luke from the hospital. Then they proceded to the house and started ransacking. The only thing that saved them was the fact that Luke was on the lease and they couldn't prove (once the police arrived) what belonged to whom. That's no way for any couple to live.

People have a right to love who they choose as long as they are consenting adults. There are so very many gay couples in Oklahoma City w ho are flocking to more tolerant places, where however they choose to live is their business as long as they hurt no one. There are too many bigoted, homophobic, misinformed Red Staters that are the reason our Oklahoma City economy is declining. We're not losing party boys and hookers. Oklahoma City is losing the best of the best, the cream of the crop- attorneys, physicians, business owners, accountants, homeowners. We are losing contributing members of our local society because we chose to exercise intolerance; we chose to ignore the Constitution, the civil rights of our fellow Oklahoma Citians, our fellow Oklahomans.

It is a violation of our civil rights to attempt to legislate morality. What we do, who we chose to love is an individual decision. If we choose to believe in God, then it will be that God that judges us, not mere mortals who are subject to the same flaws as the rest of us. I think we forget the most important issue when it comes to civil rights: WE ARE NOT GOD. It's not our place to judge.

Just food for thought.