Frustrated
So I've been kicking myself for my cowardice since yesterday... and I guess it's about time I own up and say SOMETHING before I explode...
Yesterday at Puzzles I was eating with Marlee, Becca, and one of Becca's friends when these protesters came by recruiting people to march in opposition to the CA Supreme Court's ruling not to repeal Prop 8. And instead of supporting them like I should have, I just kind of joked about them. And of course the conversation turned that way...
Then Becca's friend said: "If you want gay marriage you should just go somewhere where they have it."
Which is fair, I guess... if you don't KNOW you're talking to someone with a girlfriend, who's spent her entire life in California and would really like to do so for the rest of it, to raise children here and have a family without being boxed into a few states where she can.
And instead of speaking up about this, I just took the lame way out and said nothing.
And I'm still kicking myself.
I hate the fact that I let people get away with ignorant, lazy statements like that. Just because some people recognize the fact that everyone deserves the same rights doesn't mean that others shouldn't have to. Just because it's an option somewhere else doesn't make it OKAY to not have the option everywhere. A right is a right is a right, regardless of what State you're in. Or it should be.
I hate the way that people who are unaffected by this talk about it like it's not a big deal... If it doesn't affect you and you don't really care, then don't say anything. Don't judge me for being upset about something that affects me.
And to clarify, I'm not mad at the CA Supreme Court. They did what they should have legally. And I hope the existing marriages will strengthen the argument for it in the future by showing exactly how LITTLE things will change.
I'm just tired of sitting back and not being who I am just because it makes other people uncomfortable. How is that fair? Why should I care if my love makes them uncomfortable if they don't care that their bigotry denies me the rights I deserve as a natural born citizen of the United States of America?
Ultimately, what I want is either for everyone to be allowed the right to get married; or for civil unions to be the norm legally and marriage to be purely religious, between you and your church, or temple, or mosque, or whatever. If letting gay people get married violates the religious sanctity of marriage, doesn't letting people who don't even believe in God?
I hope I can be stronger in the future.
I'm tired of being ashamed.
Yesterday at Puzzles I was eating with Marlee, Becca, and one of Becca's friends when these protesters came by recruiting people to march in opposition to the CA Supreme Court's ruling not to repeal Prop 8. And instead of supporting them like I should have, I just kind of joked about them. And of course the conversation turned that way...
Then Becca's friend said: "If you want gay marriage you should just go somewhere where they have it."
Which is fair, I guess... if you don't KNOW you're talking to someone with a girlfriend, who's spent her entire life in California and would really like to do so for the rest of it, to raise children here and have a family without being boxed into a few states where she can.
And instead of speaking up about this, I just took the lame way out and said nothing.
And I'm still kicking myself.
I hate the fact that I let people get away with ignorant, lazy statements like that. Just because some people recognize the fact that everyone deserves the same rights doesn't mean that others shouldn't have to. Just because it's an option somewhere else doesn't make it OKAY to not have the option everywhere. A right is a right is a right, regardless of what State you're in. Or it should be.
I hate the way that people who are unaffected by this talk about it like it's not a big deal... If it doesn't affect you and you don't really care, then don't say anything. Don't judge me for being upset about something that affects me.
And to clarify, I'm not mad at the CA Supreme Court. They did what they should have legally. And I hope the existing marriages will strengthen the argument for it in the future by showing exactly how LITTLE things will change.
I'm just tired of sitting back and not being who I am just because it makes other people uncomfortable. How is that fair? Why should I care if my love makes them uncomfortable if they don't care that their bigotry denies me the rights I deserve as a natural born citizen of the United States of America?
Ultimately, what I want is either for everyone to be allowed the right to get married; or for civil unions to be the norm legally and marriage to be purely religious, between you and your church, or temple, or mosque, or whatever. If letting gay people get married violates the religious sanctity of marriage, doesn't letting people who don't even believe in God?
I hope I can be stronger in the future.
I'm tired of being ashamed.