A Question of Gay Marriage
America - The Declaration of Independence - “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”
Canada - Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination”.
France - The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common utility.”
Hong Kong – Hong Kong Bill of Rights - All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Why? I am simply asking why. What would it take away from them? Would it give us power over them? Why are we being told that marriage is strictly a unification of a penis and a vagina? Why is this looked at as the last great bastion of any well-instructed heterosexual?
Both sides face each other lines drawn, swords bared. Yet when one peers closely onto this playing field, like a child’s watercolor the reasoning become blurry and the lines are not so clearly drawn. We have those that would deny us the right of marriage based on moral grounds and those that would deny us based on constitutional grounds. Try trapping one of these soldiers and asking them to explain their reasoning. What you will hear will be a lot of mumbling with the word God thrown in several times to make themselves feel better about it all.
We are not the only ones to have gone through this battle. Let us not forget that in the not too distant past blacks were not allowed to legally marry in the United States. They were not allowed to declare themselves as a family and because of this suffered having their children taken from them at will. Many “Christian” churches turned their back on them, leaving them no choice but to hold commitment ceremonies. Ceremonies sanctioned only by friends, family and God but not the United States of America. Many black churches were begun from these ashes. This filled the need in them to have their own religion and churches that looked upon them favorably.
Sadly, it appears to some that in order to get back at those who treated them so unjustly in the past, Many of the Black religious leaders have decided that they wanted to try a little bit of spitting on someone their own selves. So they began to spit on us as well. “The rights for which our African-American ancestors have died are not the same as gay rights,” said the Rev. Darrell Armstrong of Trenton’s Shiloh Baptist Church.
How can you differentiate rights??? Gay people have died too and by God don’t you dare say they had a different agenda or that their rights didn’t count.
Let’s examine just a few of the simple things that we are being denied by not being allowed to marry legally. These are benefits that the majority of people take for granted.
1. Health insurance
2. Filing a joint income tax return. (My partner and I both have to file single with no exemptions.)
3. Making lifesaving as well as life ending decisions for each other.
Without the benefit of marriage, gay couples, if they can afford it, must spend thousands of dollars in drafting legal documents to secure the rights that other people deny us. And for what reason? Because of the fact that we both have a penis makes a few people uncomfortable? My Grandfather had seven toes on each foot. People were so weirded out they wouldn’t get into the same swimming pool with him. Talk about a freak show. But they allowed him to get married.
Allow me to speak to you directly for a moment. No not you. The lady behind you in the blue dress. And you. The guy sitting there reading the paper and scratching at the athlete’s foot between his toes.
What would you do if these rights were taken away from you? You know what would happen. There would be an uprising. You would bitch, moan, complain and shoot fire out of your ass not knowing what to do about it. When we ask why we can’t be placed on our partner’s health insurance you simply say smugly “Because you’re not allowed to. You can’t be on his health insurance if you’re not married and you can’t get married because you’re not allowed to”.
Well no shit!! What the fuck do you think all this is about? Why should we have to be allowed to do something that everybody else is doing?
This is one Mother fucking power trip you people are on. We are the last people that you are allowed to piss on and boy are you gonna let it fly. Does it make you feel better or bigger than we are? Have you all degenerated to the point that you need to walk all over somebody just so that you can feel good about yourself?
OK You’re bigger. You’re better. You’re badder. Now can we please be treated like human beings? Or are you afraid that if you are ordered to treat us, at least legally, like humans then all you’ll have left is yourselves and you might just find yourselves beginning to tear each other apart?
1924 - The Society for Human Rights in Chicago becomes the country’s earliest known gay rights organization.
1962 - Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults in private.
2000 -Vermont becomes the first state in the country to legally recognize civil unions between gay or lesbian couples.
2004 - On May 17, same-sex marriages become legal in Massachusetts.
2005 - Texas voters overwhelming approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage making their state the 19th to take that step.
Close but no cigar.