JOFFREY SLAPPED FOR TEN MINUTES.
PURE AWESOMENESS.
HEY NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATORS, IMMA LET YOU FINISH BUT…….
I am terrible at getting the thoughts and ideas I have in my head out on to paper. And I’ve never claimed to have a deep or nuanced understanding of politics. But the idea that I live in a country, where the word “freedom” is worn like a badge of pride yet doesn’t allow its citizens the “freedom” to love whomever they choose makes me angry and confused.
I’ve never understood why anyone would be so vehemently opposed to homosexuality. The problem is that many people can’t divorce the word “sex” from homosexuality. Sure sex is fantastic and we all love to have it, but it doesn’t singularly define who we are as a human being. Sex is just one facet of any relationship. A heterosexual couple is no more defined by the sloppy, drunk sex they had after that New Year’s Eve party, than the gay couple who had sloppy, drunk sex after that Labor Day BBQ.
Love, whether it’s between two people with the same parts, two people with different parts, or two people with both parts, is still love. There are so many other aspects to loving someone that have nothing to do with sex- the way they laugh at your terrible jokes, the way they let you have the last slice of pizza, the way they sing off key in the car, etc, etc……
This is why the arguments against gay marriage have never held weight for me. Straight people marry for all types of reasons that have nothing to do with love. In fact some married couples should never have tied the knot to begin with. Sky high divorce rates and spousal abuse seem far more damaging to the sanctity of marriage than two men or two women in a long-term loving relationship.
The idea that people believe they have the right to deride or legislate against a type of loving relationship that doesn’t fit into their scope of normalcy is so deeply and fundamentally disturbing. As a heterosexual woman, I’ve had more than my share of terrible, dysfunctional relationships and a handful of absolutely lovely ones. To think that someone could sit in Congress and debate the validity of those relationships and whether or not I should be denied basic, fundamental rights because of them seems like such a perversion of justice, that I cannot even wrap my mind around it.
But sadly there are still people in this country who think it is their right to define what is and isn’t normal. The voters of North Caroline passed legislation this week that defined marriage “solely as a union between a man and a woman”. I don’t have any desire to get married and maybe never will. But if I choose to, I am afforded all of the rights and legal protections that come along with that. Under this legislation, homosexual couples in committed, long-term relationships can be denied the simple right of visiting their partner in the hospital. How does that protect the sanctity of marriage?
An article on the Huffington Post about the North Carolina amendment passage quoted several of its supporters, voicing the belief that marriage should be defined by biblical scripture and not by the existence of love:
Tami Fitzgerald, who heads the pro-amendment group Vote FOR Marriage NC, said she believes the initiative awoke a silent majority of more active voters in the future.
“I think it sends a message to the rest of the country that marriage is between one man and one woman,” Fitzgerald said at a celebration Tuesday night. “The whole point is simply that you don’t rewrite the nature of God’s design based on the demands of a group of adults.”
I’m not a deeply religious person, but I am a person of faith; and I’d like to think that if God exists, he would celebrate love and not rail against its existence. Because if we believe that God gave us the capacity to love one another, it would seem contradictory that he would put restrictions and conditions on that love. And maybe if people stopped trying to use God as a way to divide each other, they could love each other the way he loves all of them…..unconditionally.
