Boo on You, Maine
How would you feel if you woke up one day, and you read that over half the people in your country believed you didn't have the right to get married?
I don't know about you, but I am livid.
I've been the subject of many off-color jokes. I've been given a lot of funny looks, and many people have made snide remarks. I've been threatened and I've had people throw things at me. This is all because I'm gay, something I have no control over.
I know some people dispute this, and they say that it is a a "choice." Why on the world would I choose to be looked down upon by so many people, especially growing up in a small town in Texas in the Bible Belt? Why would I choose to be socially ousted? Or threatened? Or laughed at every day of my secondary school career? Why on earth would anyone choose that?
There's no choice involved. I can't even choose to get married to someone I love. (I know I'm single, but that is beside the point.) Why does anyone else have the right to say who I can or cannot marry? Why is my love less valid? Because it's in the Bible?
I understand the religious aspect to marriage. And churches should absolutely have the right to say who gets married within their walls. However, it's also a legal act. For many people - including heterosexuals - marriage has nothing to do with religion. It's an act of love and commitment. If you're going to go this route, you may as well pass laws saying atheists can't get married. Jewish people should push for laws restricting the consumption of pork.
But wait! They're forcing their religious views on us! And that's right. It wouldn't be fair for Jewish people to say the rest of us can't eat pork. It's right up there with people saying I can't get married.
Honestly, this makes me feel like half of the country doesn't view me as a full person. Who would have the audacity to go up to someone and tell them they don't have the right to get married? Who's to say that I should be taxed just because I'm gay? (If you're wondering, gay couples who don't enjoy the legal benefits of marriage, on top of feeling insulted, have to pay much more over the course of their lives; more information on just how much was reported in this article of the New York Times.)
I would never dare to tell someone they didn't deserve marriage, or what they should do in their church, or what they should do in the privacy of their own homes. But I will say this:
You don't have the right to tell me who I can love.
I don't know about you, but I am livid.
I've been the subject of many off-color jokes. I've been given a lot of funny looks, and many people have made snide remarks. I've been threatened and I've had people throw things at me. This is all because I'm gay, something I have no control over.
I know some people dispute this, and they say that it is a a "choice." Why on the world would I choose to be looked down upon by so many people, especially growing up in a small town in Texas in the Bible Belt? Why would I choose to be socially ousted? Or threatened? Or laughed at every day of my secondary school career? Why on earth would anyone choose that?
There's no choice involved. I can't even choose to get married to someone I love. (I know I'm single, but that is beside the point.) Why does anyone else have the right to say who I can or cannot marry? Why is my love less valid? Because it's in the Bible?
I understand the religious aspect to marriage. And churches should absolutely have the right to say who gets married within their walls. However, it's also a legal act. For many people - including heterosexuals - marriage has nothing to do with religion. It's an act of love and commitment. If you're going to go this route, you may as well pass laws saying atheists can't get married. Jewish people should push for laws restricting the consumption of pork.
But wait! They're forcing their religious views on us! And that's right. It wouldn't be fair for Jewish people to say the rest of us can't eat pork. It's right up there with people saying I can't get married.
Honestly, this makes me feel like half of the country doesn't view me as a full person. Who would have the audacity to go up to someone and tell them they don't have the right to get married? Who's to say that I should be taxed just because I'm gay? (If you're wondering, gay couples who don't enjoy the legal benefits of marriage, on top of feeling insulted, have to pay much more over the course of their lives; more information on just how much was reported in this article of the New York Times.)
I would never dare to tell someone they didn't deserve marriage, or what they should do in their church, or what they should do in the privacy of their own homes. But I will say this:
You don't have the right to tell me who I can love.