A prevalent topic in our culture today, I legitimately
cannot believe that it has taken this long for homosexual, bisexual, and
transgender to start getting the basic human rights they absolutely
deserve. In a country where life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are literally written into one of our
founding doctrines, we have a pretty bad track record at making sure our
citizens achieve that pursuit of happiness.
I am from the Midwest which I guess still has a fairly significant
population that believes that LGBT people affect their regular way of life, but
I can’t wait for Ohio, the state I grew up and live in, to join the curve and
provide a more social equality for all.
As I've noted before, I am straight and am looking forward to
having an amazing family one day akin to the one I grew up with. I don't think I know enough about the world/science yet to know whether or not a person can be born gay and then become straight, or vice
versa, but I’m sure science will answer me soon enough. I say this, in part because of an interview I
read with the Hunger Games actor, Josh Hutcherson, who is also a spokesman for
a movement called, “Straight But Not Narrow.”
He said a quote along the lines of “I would probably list myself as
mostly straight. Maybe I could say right
now I’m 100 percent straight, but who knows? In a f--king year, I could meet a
guy and be like, Whoa, I’m attracted to this person.” I completely understand that sentiment. Love, or attraction, isn’t set in stone and
3.5 billion people on this planet are the opposite gender of what you think you
prefer. Don’t be narrow-minded in
telling yourself who you could or couldn’t love, and especially don’t be
narrow-minded enough to tell someone else who they should or shouldn’t
love.
The marriage part of this whole thing is what makes me the
most irritated. Let me see if I can
write this out clearly. Fact: Marriage is a word. Webster defines it as “the formal union of a
man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and
wife.” Okay, great, so in accordance with that definition and how this simple
word takes its place in religion, LGBT people should not follow this particular
way in achieving their goal of living a normal, happy life like the rest of us. They should choose a new word, like “union”
or “convergence” or make up a word like “quallaruma” and define it as “the
formal union of a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, or whoever you love
with whoever you love, typically recognized by law, by which they became a
loving entity.” If the concept of
marriage is what is going to put people in arms about these basic rights, then
let’s just make sure something like a civil union is actually in equal standing
with marriage. These people are people
who deserve the same rights and benefits as married couples and the religious
aspects surrounding the word marriage should not be the factor that determines
a human being’s personal happiness.
There are two common arguments against gay marriage that I
would also like to address real quick.
People tend to argue that allowing same-sex marriages to happen would
weaken the sanctity of marriage. This is
coming from a country that literally spends hours upon hours watching trash
like “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” where it is not uncommon for a
Kardashian sister to end a marriage within 72 days. We also tend to get caught up in TV dramas/real
life dramas with our friends where cheating, fights, lies, and betrayals make
for some good conversation with our coworkers or friends. This kind of fits in with the other common
argument against gay marriage where allowing same-sex marriages could give in
to a slippery slope which will transform our society into one that partakes in
polygamy, bestiality, incest, and the like.
I really hate hearing someone compare a love between two humans to a “love”
between a human and an animal, but that’s just me.
One other argument I've heard is how gay marriage isn't in the Bible and therefore shouldn't be allowed in any church. Well that's fine, because I would love to keep stoning women if they look at me wrong or killing my neighbors over our shared crops (For the record: I don't want to stone women or kill my neighbors). The Bible doesn't mention gay marriage because it reflected the culture of the time. We are in the culture of the 21st century and I really don't think there's a God that says people can't love who they want and be happy. Also for the record, religion is a weird subject with me for reasons I need to come to grips with on my own so I'm not pretending at all to be an expert on all this, but I'm pretty sure the basic theme of religion is that God loves all his children and doesn't choose favorites (as in heterosexuals).
I really like my generation for typically being pretty chill
about all of these huge social revolutions that really are not that big of a
deal. In very broad strokes, the
following are examples of conversations I’ve witnessed between fellow human
beings.
You’re a woman who wants to be intimate with another
woman? Cool, glad to hear things are
going great for you!
You want to adopt kids with your partner so you can lovingly
raise them as well or better than you yourself were? Awesome, where are you
thinking of adopting from?
Someone gave you crap for being who you are? They are an idiot because you are one of the
best people I know.
Hearing people have this mindset about such a simple, yet
complex, topic in our society gives me hope for the future. I personally cannot wait to see what the next
few decades usher in once my generation and I are in positions of power to make
change. But in the meantime, we can wait
happily as long as we are being decent people to our fellow human beings. In conclusion, putting yourself into someone
else’s shoes is really the real solution to overcoming any kind of
discrimination. People love who they
love and it really is not up to you to tell them otherwise. Try your best to be a little more considerate
of those who aren’t being fully accepted into society, and soon enough society
will catch up with ya!
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