Gay Rights
"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" - Ernest Gaines
We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on livejournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights." If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
I stole the above from smash's LJ, and the timing is interesting. Last week Ron and I spent about a week in Seattle, and we got to spend some time with a cousin I never really got to know. She's now gay and living with a wonderful sweetie. Over breakfast, I described a recent theory of friendship that I have: any of my friends who don't believe that gay people should have the same civil rights as everyone else are getting pushed out of my life. This applies to an ex-coworker who is from India who believes that "marriage is between a man and a woman," whatever the fuck that means. There's one exception: an orthodox Jewish friend whose rules of ethics seem to totally in line with what she believes in her faith. Though I haven't discussed this with her, I could see her go either way on this, and I'd respect it.
The rest of America, though? If you can't understand exactly why gays should be allowed to marry, then you're not actually for civil rights, just the rights that happen to agree with you. And this applies to my mom, who I'm deeply disappointed in right now over this topic, though I'd like to have a logical crack at changing her mind, and the logic goes like this:
What's the purpose of marriage? If the sole purpose of marriage is to support a family, then there are two reasons why gays should be allowed to be married. One is that they can adopt and raise kids with the best of them, thus fostering better famililes than most of the rest of the country, IMO, because these people will likely exercise tolerance, an important concept that should be passed onto kids.
The second is that if marriage is solely to foster a raising of a family because the male and female genetalia can together produce offspring, and if a couple cannot or will not have kids, then their marriage is a sham and should not be allowed. Following that logic, Ron and I should not have been married and recognized by the state, because we have no intention of having kids, ever. And if we were to adopt, see above, answer to #1.
If the purpose of marriage is not about creating children, then it's about companionship and love, in which case, how are gays any different from anyone else? They're different because of the form of sex that's used. If THAT'S the logic, then carpet munching and bum-fucking are disqualifiers for sex, and thus plenty of straight couples should not be married. And for the straight but celibate couples, they shouldn't be married, either.
So, either the state governments should disallow my own marriage, or allow gays to be married. To me, it's as simple as that. And I applaud Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for saying they won't get married until anyone can be legally married in this country.
I love being an American, and then, sometimes, I hate us. Maybe in 5 weeks I'll feel better about where I live, but, I can't afford to get my hopes up.
We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on livejournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights." If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
I stole the above from smash's LJ, and the timing is interesting. Last week Ron and I spent about a week in Seattle, and we got to spend some time with a cousin I never really got to know. She's now gay and living with a wonderful sweetie. Over breakfast, I described a recent theory of friendship that I have: any of my friends who don't believe that gay people should have the same civil rights as everyone else are getting pushed out of my life. This applies to an ex-coworker who is from India who believes that "marriage is between a man and a woman," whatever the fuck that means. There's one exception: an orthodox Jewish friend whose rules of ethics seem to totally in line with what she believes in her faith. Though I haven't discussed this with her, I could see her go either way on this, and I'd respect it.
The rest of America, though? If you can't understand exactly why gays should be allowed to marry, then you're not actually for civil rights, just the rights that happen to agree with you. And this applies to my mom, who I'm deeply disappointed in right now over this topic, though I'd like to have a logical crack at changing her mind, and the logic goes like this:
What's the purpose of marriage? If the sole purpose of marriage is to support a family, then there are two reasons why gays should be allowed to be married. One is that they can adopt and raise kids with the best of them, thus fostering better famililes than most of the rest of the country, IMO, because these people will likely exercise tolerance, an important concept that should be passed onto kids.
The second is that if marriage is solely to foster a raising of a family because the male and female genetalia can together produce offspring, and if a couple cannot or will not have kids, then their marriage is a sham and should not be allowed. Following that logic, Ron and I should not have been married and recognized by the state, because we have no intention of having kids, ever. And if we were to adopt, see above, answer to #1.
If the purpose of marriage is not about creating children, then it's about companionship and love, in which case, how are gays any different from anyone else? They're different because of the form of sex that's used. If THAT'S the logic, then carpet munching and bum-fucking are disqualifiers for sex, and thus plenty of straight couples should not be married. And for the straight but celibate couples, they shouldn't be married, either.
So, either the state governments should disallow my own marriage, or allow gays to be married. To me, it's as simple as that. And I applaud Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for saying they won't get married until anyone can be legally married in this country.
I love being an American, and then, sometimes, I hate us. Maybe in 5 weeks I'll feel better about where I live, but, I can't afford to get my hopes up.