Minority Report

Feb 25, 2004 13:27

I decided to go leafing through some news stories and columns on the whole "gay marriage" issue while on my pre-lunch and I stumbled across this column from the Tribune about Black History Month.

First off, I have to say I don’t disagree with most anything the guy said in it. I did feel I had some opinions on some points, but all in all I do not debate his right to his opinion.

Of course, as he sat there talking about how only recently schools have attempted to teach more Black history (though in general he says education in history on a whole has declined) I couldn’t help but feeling he was being a little bit whiny. I am truly not trying to be racist here, and I know full well what it’s like to be part of a minority. Though sometimes I question if, because I am white, the fact that I am gay is cancelled out and I am still accepted regardless (though with other headlines of this very day, it would seem that is not true). All the racism that floats around in this world often makes me feel like the fact I was born white is contemptible.

Continuing on though, if I was to voice my own opinion to generate a new argument, I could say that I was never taught that Alexander the Great or Michelangelo were gay. Had I been, I might not have felt so horribly alienated in school.

It’s all a matter of perspective, but I probably would have welcomed a group of five or six students like me I could have hung around with much like a Black minority at a mostly white Catholic high school had. It’s always spoken of like it’s such a huge travesty to exist in that minority in a world not geared specifically toward you. Yet, here I present to you, in martyrdom or not, the fact that being a gay student is at least equally traumatic, if not more so, in the same situation. Yet, it is barely ever recognized because on the scale of things, to every race, the homosexual is the lowest of lows right next to child molesters and people who have sex with animals.

In the end, I really don’t care. I am not trying to speak out against a minority; just presenting a point. People always think they have it so hard and are so denied by the world and society; and they close their eyes to everything else and all the rest of the unfortunate... to their own ignorance and racism and the accountability each has to themselves.

Personally, I think the main issue is that we have all these ’days’. Days honoring this, months honoring that. The make up of it in my eyes seems to specifically cause tension. Maybe if we treated skin color normally, it might help to stop certain feelings of inadequacy. I am sure people would immediately argue then that the world would exist in it’s predominantly ’white’ way. I am not here providing solid answers to world issues though; just having thoughts that at least prompt me to think a bit further.

I also think Valentine’s Day and Christmas are a sham as well; because if you appreciate someone, you shouldn’t have to use specific days to express it. Especially when such days are so steeped in commercialism that any true meaning that might have ever existed in them is lost.

He made the comment about "White History Month" and said it’s "every month". Unfortunately, if you want to argue the history of America, it was the Whites that came first, slaughtered the Indians and set up base camp; and then later on brought the Blacks here as slaves. You’ve got to start with the whites in there somewhere. Honestly, from my thirteen years of schooling, one of the names I always remember from history class was Frederick Douglass. Obviously, there could not have been a huge cover-up of history if I can remember that. I am quite certain we talked about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. as well; of course, I don’t ever recall a mention of the Stonewall riots. Ever.

Nothing. Not one inference or acknowledgement of an alternate sexuality outside of being taunted by fellow students until Psych class senior year, when I cautiously looked through my text book’s index and found the one page in the book referencing Homosexuality.

Other minorities have families to go home to that can teach them their history; first-hand sometimes. Great minority leaders are spoken of and were documented. Every race and color documented and a historical geography that tells us where these people, some different and some alike, came from.

I’ve never had that opportunity with my history. I have no history. I was born into this alone. An individual. It wasn’t until I was almost twenty that I knew I was literally not alone. So, if someone wants to cry me a river about not being recognized because of skin color or religion, I understand.. but I certainly don’t feel any great injustice has been served. Welcome to real life.

As far as the gay marriage thing goes; I read something in an e-mail today concerning it. The first thought that comes to my mind (again) is simply this; That no matter what any person anywhere says, they do not have the power to take away who I am. Not to infer ’gay’ as being ’who I am’... only a part of a complex whole. Grant the right, or prevent it... it will no more hinder my relationship issues, provide me with better dates or otherwise justify feelings that I could no more stop when I was twelve than I can stop now.

I am not on one definitive side in the issue to be honest. I see both sides. I thoroughly agree with what Mayor Daley said because it’s what I have thought all along; that straight people really have no right to chastise anyone because of some kind of "sanctity of marriage". Their "world" is full of abuse and adultery and all sorts of evils. If marriage has been destroyed, it’s their fault not any homosexuals.

But, again, here we are with the same result. Everyone pointing fingers outwardly instead of seeing their own faults. It’s an inescapable error in the human matrix. Issues will continue to rise throughout future human history because people find it easier to look outwardly rather than inwardly.

As far as political reasoning, if gay couples want the same benefits as straight ones, I think they should be entitled to them. I’d be hard pressed to hear one good reason why they shouldn’t that a straight couple could not be found violating.

As far as God, that’s certainly a completely different issue all together... at least for me. But, if the country was founded based on the separation of church and state, there simply should be no question or hesitation to all of this. It seems like an obvious fact. In my opinion.

Having issues with "love" and going through a spiritual crisis recently though, I can say that my lack of decisiveness IS my opinion on things. From what I have seen in my own trenches and the constant influx of the media in modern life, I have been thinking marriage should be banned for straights as well.

Whatever law is passed or insult is flung or validation given to me or my sexuality; it will no more or less validate my humanity. It’s a difficult concept to follow, especially for someone as emotional and passionate as myself, but above all I sense that as the real truth (for me).

If someday, in the obviously unforeseeable future, I did fall in "love" then I would be so shocked it happened, the very occurrence of it would be a benefit to me. If I felt it, and so did the other person, who else do we need to validate it for us? A group of other people? A state? A country? A piece of paper? Ignorance doesn’t stop because someone signs a piece of paper.

Though yes, getting it approved might stop ignorance. It might affect change. I see all that. I am not blind. I am not solving world issues here... just expressing some thoughts I’ve had on current events today. It’s just a train of thought that probably reveals more of my own inadequacies and my fervent detest for society than anything else. I am a human being. I will always stand correctable... if not by others, simply by Time.

marriage, news, gay

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