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bluejeans07Homosexual marriages.
I know this is a touchy issue, but this is the issue that I feel the most passionate about, and that I know the most information to, as well as the issue that I keep up with the most. A little bit of my background: I was a member of my high school's Gay-Straight Alliance Tolerance Club since I was a sophmore in high school, I'm an active reader of slash, yuri, and yaoi fanfiction since I was twelve, and I am a straight Christian who loves her God. My parents were aware of my membership and tried to make me leave the club but they never knew that I was always part of it. I could never get the Tolerance club T-shirt or be in any of the club photos in the yearbook because of them, but I've always supported the club at the meetings and behind the scenes. I have had many gay, bi, and lesbian teachers and friends in my lifetime and every person was as loving and warm to me in times of need.
I support gay and lesbian marriage. Who am I to stand between two people who obviously love each other and want to be together for the rest of their lives just because they are the same gender?? I've read several news articles and listened to many debates that ignorant people ultimately some how connect gay and lesbian marriage with rape and child molestation! How on earth can that be true when it really is just two people who want to be together. While many ignorant people claim that marriage should only be between a man and a woman because of children, well what about orphans who get adopted by homosexual couples? Don't orphens deserve to have a home and a family? Don't homosexual couples deserve the joy of being parents?? They are human beings who deserve the same rights and liberties that everyone else has and that everyone else treasures. I am not God or a superior being who CANNOT condemn two people who have love to a life of not being counted like everyone else. I CANNOT JUDGE THEM just because their life is different than mine. We are different, so what? We all have the same organs, we all bleed red blood, we all put our pants on one leg at a time. Sure a marriage can end in divorce, but that's a chance all couples take and face it, people change and the things they want or need change, including the person they thought they were going to be with for the rest of their life.
For those of you who think civil unions are enough, they are NOT. While the government acknowledges civil unions as marriages, private companies do not. Here's a true story: a country club has a special discount fee for married couples, but say that there is a lesbian couple who have a civil union and have been together for ten years don't qualify for the discount fee and have to pay two seprate memberships that's about $100 more than the discount marriage membership. Here's another example: a company has a special health plan for married employees which includes their spouses, while a gay couple who have a civil union don't qualify and have to seek other health cares and pay more money. Does this seem fair to you just because the partner is the same gender? Why is it fair that some people can succeed and some can't just because of gender issues?
Love is a beautiful thing that should be treasured and cherished, and just because that treasure is shared between two people of the same gender, it doesn't mean it's not as cherished or important. It's just as important as love between a man and a woman, and those couples have a right to want to celebrate and show their union with a permanent bond of marriage.
I know this is a touchy issue, but this is the issue that I feel the most passionate about, and that I know the most information to, as well as the issue that I keep up with the most. A little bit of my background: I was a member of my high school's Gay-Straight Alliance Tolerance Club since I was a sophmore in high school, I'm an active reader of slash, yuri, and yaoi fanfiction since I was twelve, and I am a straight Christian who loves her God. My parents were aware of my membership and tried to make me leave the club but they never knew that I was always part of it. I could never get the Tolerance club T-shirt or be in any of the club photos in the yearbook because of them, but I've always supported the club at the meetings and behind the scenes. I have had many gay, bi, and lesbian teachers and friends in my lifetime and every person was as loving and warm to me in times of need.
I support gay and lesbian marriage. Who am I to stand between two people who obviously love each other and want to be together for the rest of their lives just because they are the same gender?? I've read several news articles and listened to many debates that ignorant people ultimately some how connect gay and lesbian marriage with rape and child molestation! How on earth can that be true when it really is just two people who want to be together. While many ignorant people claim that marriage should only be between a man and a woman because of children, well what about orphans who get adopted by homosexual couples? Don't orphens deserve to have a home and a family? Don't homosexual couples deserve the joy of being parents?? They are human beings who deserve the same rights and liberties that everyone else has and that everyone else treasures. I am not God or a superior being who CANNOT condemn two people who have love to a life of not being counted like everyone else. I CANNOT JUDGE THEM just because their life is different than mine. We are different, so what? We all have the same organs, we all bleed red blood, we all put our pants on one leg at a time. Sure a marriage can end in divorce, but that's a chance all couples take and face it, people change and the things they want or need change, including the person they thought they were going to be with for the rest of their life.
For those of you who think civil unions are enough, they are NOT. While the government acknowledges civil unions as marriages, private companies do not. Here's a true story: a country club has a special discount fee for married couples, but say that there is a lesbian couple who have a civil union and have been together for ten years don't qualify for the discount fee and have to pay two seprate memberships that's about $100 more than the discount marriage membership. Here's another example: a company has a special health plan for married employees which includes their spouses, while a gay couple who have a civil union don't qualify and have to seek other health cares and pay more money. Does this seem fair to you just because the partner is the same gender? Why is it fair that some people can succeed and some can't just because of gender issues?
Love is a beautiful thing that should be treasured and cherished, and just because that treasure is shared between two people of the same gender, it doesn't mean it's not as cherished or important. It's just as important as love between a man and a woman, and those couples have a right to want to celebrate and show their union with a permanent bond of marriage.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 12:04 am (UTC)xo
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Date: 2004-11-03 07:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 08:38 am (UTC)I was wondering, this election about 11 or so states put gay marriages on the ballot (since I think the decision has been tossed to the state governments), and all 11 vetoed it. I'm wondering... WHERE the heck are they putting it on the ballot? If they're putting them on freakin' the bible belt and middle america.. then of COURSE it ain't gonna pass!
Then again, I can imagine AHNOLD wouldn't want to even bother putting it on the ballot since he's none of them "girly men" and won't stand for that sort of thing :p But I'm pretty sure if it WERE on our ballot this year, it may have actually passed. But who knows.
And I mean, it's not enough for a state to acknowledge it.. when it basically confines you to that state. I wish it were a federal acknowledgement.. but for now.. there's always Amsterdam... and Canada. haha.
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Date: 2004-11-03 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 09:32 pm (UTC)Yeah, I don't remember voting on it myself and I was a registered voter in 2000 and have voted in every election, including the small ones. ^_^;
Rebecca
no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 11:19 am (UTC)When I read that the San Francisco mayor married gay couples, I was crying and laughing with pride and happiness that someone with power stood up and did what he believed was right. He didn't hurt anyone, and he made so many people happy that day, as well as confirmed the statement of "Liberty, truth, and justice FOR ALL."
no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 09:20 pm (UTC)simple as that. if you're not killing a life... be happy. if you're not gay and you're not getting married.. good for you.
people are in a uproar because they feel their MORALS are being hurt and attacked... when, morals are merely a bunch of words that YOU believe in. I don't understand where one gets the notion that they KNOW what morality is just by basing it off what someone says.. some "authority" or even the Bible.. which is written by man. And how do you even KNOW what God really means in the Bible? How do you have the authority to dictate what is being said?
ANYWAY... I agree with you totally. I'm a bit disappointed... but I hope our future can be a little more progressive. At this point, I guess we just aren't ready for it.
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Date: 2004-11-03 09:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 11:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 01:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-04 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-03 06:26 pm (UTC)Rebecca
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Date: 2004-11-03 10:05 pm (UTC)Well, it's tough and it wasn't an easy thing for me to face... when I was younger I simply believed that homosexually wasn't wrong because no one told me that it was against Christian values because of Bible verses. I didn't start going to church full time until I was a freshman in high school and I did read the Bible every Sunday except it was a kid's version so it didn't have any issues about homosexuality in it.
Now that I have gone to a very conservative and somewhat strange Korean church for four years, read the adult version of the Bible, and was told by my parents and other family members that being a homsexual person is 'wrong' after they found out I joined the Tolerance club... well... I just can't think of it as being wrong. Sure the Bible says that it's wrong but during the Civil War, the Bible was used by Southerners to argue that slavery was right. The Bible was also used to argue against women's rights during the Suffrage movement and declared that women were lower than men when we know now that it's not the case at all. The reason why the Bible has existed for so long is because it can grow and change as the times grow and change (another example would be the Constitution.)
I think the most important things to follow in the Bible is to love God and worship Him, as well as respect and honor the Ten Commandments, so that's what I try to do. Also, Bible teaches us to love thy neighbor and that everyone is a brother and a sister, so I don't judge or say someone is wrong when they are different, as well as help others who are in need. God also says that love is a beautiful thing, whether it is love for God or for another human being, so I see love as something that should be treasured despite gender.
I hope that answers your question, but if you have more feel free to ask.
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Date: 2004-11-03 10:11 pm (UTC)Rebecca
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Date: 2004-11-04 12:20 am (UTC)Yeah I had to really come to my own conclusion after a lot of research and soul searching because no one really talked to me about it. Both sides are wary towards each other and are touchy subjects, but also I couldn't talk to the members of my old church because I'd be completely shunned (as if I wasn't already, I never fit in with their Tommy Hilfinger bag). The Tolerance club didn't want to accidently offend me or my beliefs so they didn't really talk to me about it. But I like my conclusion, it makes sense to me and I don't feel guilty over feeling this way. ^^