New York
I feel like today will be a momentous occasion in world history. In 10 years people will look back on this day as a turning point in the fight for LGBT rights. After today there are 7 states in the USA that will perform gay marriage. It is now legal in one of the largest cities in the world, and one of the most famous.
You have no idea how much this excites me. As a teenager who is still coming to terms with exactly how to define her sexuality, this gives me so much hope for the future.
I live in Australia. Same sex marriage is currently not legal here in any of our eight states or territories. In four states the best equivalent to that is a 'civil union or registered partnership' [yes, I did just do a quick Wikipedia search] but none of these four states are the state in which I live.
In fact, I live in a state where a loophole exists in murder legislature known as the "non-violent Homosexual Advance Defence". If you read this post, you'll see that it basically means that if I were to make 'non-violent' advances towards someone of the same sex and they didn't like this, the law states that they must be looked upon less harshly for murdering me. That's Queensland for you.
Over the last few months I've had to tell my closest friends about my sexuality, and I would say that it is the hardest thing that I have had to do so far in my life. Telling my two best friends my biggest secret was terrifying because I had no idea of how they would react. Thankfully they were both amazing, but it was a legitimate fear I had because among the groups of people I know, homosexuality isn't taken seriously. It's something that people joke about and that made me so scared. But to find out that every single person I have told has been nothing less than incredibly supportive was the greatest thing I could have asked for. This gives me hope that someday in the future, maybe I'll get to walk down the aisle with the person I love. Regardless of their gender.
You have no idea how much this excites me. As a teenager who is still coming to terms with exactly how to define her sexuality, this gives me so much hope for the future.
I live in Australia. Same sex marriage is currently not legal here in any of our eight states or territories. In four states the best equivalent to that is a 'civil union or registered partnership' [yes, I did just do a quick Wikipedia search] but none of these four states are the state in which I live.
In fact, I live in a state where a loophole exists in murder legislature known as the "non-violent Homosexual Advance Defence". If you read this post, you'll see that it basically means that if I were to make 'non-violent' advances towards someone of the same sex and they didn't like this, the law states that they must be looked upon less harshly for murdering me. That's Queensland for you.
Over the last few months I've had to tell my closest friends about my sexuality, and I would say that it is the hardest thing that I have had to do so far in my life. Telling my two best friends my biggest secret was terrifying because I had no idea of how they would react. Thankfully they were both amazing, but it was a legitimate fear I had because among the groups of people I know, homosexuality isn't taken seriously. It's something that people joke about and that made me so scared. But to find out that every single person I have told has been nothing less than incredibly supportive was the greatest thing I could have asked for. This gives me hope that someday in the future, maybe I'll get to walk down the aisle with the person I love. Regardless of their gender.