Same Sex Marriage

Over my lifetime, I have heard many hyperbolic reasons from those who oppose same sex relationships but not one of those reasons have any merit other than religious viewpoints.

The Constitution of the United States has written that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States". It does not state that you will be denied if you are gay. It is written as a protection for all U.S. citizens.

I have never met a man who has ever complained over an "adult" seen in any movie where there are two women making love, in fact, from what I have been told, those kind of scenes tend to be very enjoyable for men (many straight women also enjoy those scenes). If it's in a movie it seems to be acceptable yet it is something that most people in this country would fight against in real life...especially if it was two women who wanted to get married and enjoy each other in the privacy of their own home. A bit hypocritical, isn't it?

I have heard women get angry because a man they were interested in turned out to be gay. I have seen men do the same over gay women. Egos are shattered when someone isn't attracted to you but it is intolerable if they want a same sex relationship. If a person is not grown up enough to get over it, they are not mature enough for a relationship in the first place.

I have heard varied excuses from both men and women that they wondered about certain aspects of a gay life and were a bit concerned that they might enjoy the attention of a gay individual. I could be wrong here but that sounds to me like some people have themselves so brainwashed by the religious sect that they may be gay but can not reconcile who they are because of their religious views. Some of these people were simply miserable and could not find peace within themselves. I counseled quite a few of them and a handful or so decided to either go to counseling, change churches or walk away from their religion. Several of them actually were gay but were lost so far in religion that they could not break free of it in order to be who they were meant to be.

I have yet to see the same Right Wing zealots go after the polygamists in this country. If they are so intent on describing marriage as a union between one man and one woman, what do they plan to do, if anything, about the men that have multiple wives? Would that not be illegal as well? What are they going to do about it, especially considering that many of these polygamists marry underage little girls which amounts to child abuse...molestation and rape? When are they going to put an end to polygamy? HBO has even glorified the idea of polygamy with its series "Big Love". The whole thing is disgusting and severely hypocritical. HBO should be ashamed to glorify such a practice. It does not look like one man and one woman to me.

I have known young people whose families threatened them with physical injury or even death if they ever "turned" gay. A person can not "turn" gay. What kind of sorry excuse for a parent would do that to their child? Unfortunately, I have met more than I would ever want to.

Choice has nothing to do with the gay community. No sane person would choose such a road, because this society places IEDs everywhere along the road for gay individuals. Discrimination, ridicule and identity upsets are just the beginning of what it costs to be gay in America, and it is a life long struggle. It has nothing to do with any "God", any choice or something just "snapping". Each of us are born with set tendencies that progress as we grow. An individual is born with the attraction tendencies they will have later in life and that is the truth of us all. Some will be attracted to the opposite sex and some will be attracted to the same sex. This attraction can not be manufactured or changed. It is not a sickness, a disease or something any religion can "fix". There is nothing to "fix" because nothing is broken.

The religious community needs to remember something that their religion teaches them..."God" made all creatures (if you believe in such things). If this were true, then "God" created gay people as well and by purposely causing them grief you would be guilty of sinning against "God". I grew up in that same hypocritical mess with the double standards and the "cookie cutter" designs that everyone was supposed to live by. If you do not believe the exact same version or you feel differently about something you are either ostracized or given a label that makes it more difficult to get along. I am not gay but I would give my life to protect another person's right to be who they are and not have to hide from the hypocritical zealots in this world.

The U.S. military fights for our rights as well but even that has strings attached for the gay community...and that is a sacrilege to all that America should stand for. I have known gay individuals in the military that have fought, bled and died for the rights of all of us yet we allow the Christian Right to treat others in the gay community like they are less than people, let alone Americans. I spent many years married to the U.S. military, and to be honest, I would trust a gay serviceman/woman, to defend us as much if not more than a straight one. The concept of "don't ask, don't tell" is a travesty and a slap in the face to all of America because it throws shame at those who love their country enough to fight for the rest of us. It highlights stupidity, ignorance and fear and makes us less of a nation as a whole.

Several years ago in a small town in Tennessee, a bill had been introduced to our county that would rewrite the law for marriage. The "one man/one woman" idealism was a blatant attempt by the anal conservative right to slap the gay community in the face. I was one of the first 50 to vote and a few days later was at a community festival where I was approached by one of the Conservative leaders of the county I lived in. I liked this woman and would do almost anything for her. She reminded me that I needed to vote and then said "You have to vote yes on amendment one". Amendment number one was the marriage clause, as I called it. I told the woman that I had voted and, when she pressed me over how I voted, I informed her that I had voted NO. She became quite irate and informed me that she could not imagine living in a world of gays being able to marry. I did not reply as she stomped out of view but could not help but think she might want to consider suicide. Call me mean if you will but bigoted, hypocritical people will not be able to block gay marriage forever. It WILL become law someday, just as it became law that people could legally marry outside their race, blacks could vote and so could women. When it does become law across America, the gay community will rejoice as many of the rest of us will but people, like me, that are sick and tired of America's injustices will sit back and smile while gloating over the fact that small minded people are losing their battle for inequality.

Homophobia is an idiotic view, full of stupidity, ignorance, hatred, jealousy, intolerance, self righteousness and/or a number of other lame excuses. There is nothing that resembles "manly" or "American" about the attempt to target one group of people as subservient or substandard. In the United States of America all of us are supposed to be of equal importance, no citizen having a legitimate claim to rights that another is not entitled to. Those who throw such staunch opposition to same sex marriage need to at least read the Constitution of the United States and treat it with as much reverence as you would your bible. My country, the United States of America, was meant to follow the law put forth in the Constitution and your bible needs to stay in your church and out of my government. The Christian Right has no right to push their religion on those of us who do not believe as they do.

If you do not like the idea of same sex marriage then you should not marry someone of the same sex, otherwise you should mind your own business. Why is it that those who would inhibit the rights of others are usually the worst "busybodies" around. They do not want to make a decent life for themselves so they waste their time by trying to insert themselves into everyone else's lives. A very sad and pathetic way to exist it must be to constantly feel as if you have to control the life of another because your own faith is not enough to sustain you.