by Hilary Rosen,
Posted in on Monday, Oct 20
What you don’t know can’t possibly hurt. If you don’t understand something, why make it your business anyway? This idea of creating a country where people in “power” tell you what kind of person you need to spend the rest of YOUR life with is just absolutely insane to me. Land of the free, home of the brave. How exactly does making up a law saying only a man can marry a woman and only and woman can marry a man make our lives and our decisions free?
It makes complete sense to me to fall in love and get married. Getting married is something you do when you are in love and you want the world to know about it. You gather family and friends in hopes of the perfect day you always dreamed would be yours and with vows and love, you turn most bright smiles into tears. Why should there be a gender code on that happiness?
How can we classify the United States as a free country when we are forcing our citizens to marry and spend their lives with a certain gender? And who’s to say “they know best?” What gives someone, who is clearly scared of this type of relationship, the right to decide how they will live their life? Is it really all that hard to turn your head the other way in order to give your neighbor the happiness we are all entitled to? The constitution itself says that we are all, as citizens of the United States given the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness can’t be achieved if we make laws banning certain people from achieving that happiness.
Marriage is defined as a relationship in which two people legally pledge themselves to spend their lives together. Those strongly against same-sex marriages have the opinion that it goes against certain beliefs of certain religions. Well, marriage doesn’t necessarily have to do with religion at all. Don’t some people go to their town hall to make their marriage legal, instead of the trip to Vegas, or the big wedding they never wanted to begin with? If the town hall can make a marriage between two people legal, it doesn’t seem to me that it has to do with religion at all, but the state. Isn’t this the reason why we came to this country in the first place, escaping being conformed to what we don’t feel comfortable participating in? How did it come to this, that it might possibly turn out that these people either marry someone they don’t want to, or live their lives without a legally binding relationship?
Sure, most people make it about religion and have a priest or a rabbi conduct the ceremony, but in the end, it’s all about having the people closest in their lives listen to the words and vows they want to say to the person they want to spend their life with. Aren’t we all raised being taught that not all people are the same?
Coming to college, and meeting all different kinds of new people I found myself becoming close to a group of girls that were very different from me. They dressed different, wore their hair different, and dated a different gender then me. At first, it was surprising and unlike what I was used to. I have never really met and befriended any lesbians in high school, and I don’t even think there were any openly gay girls I shared my high school years with.
They are who they are, something I seldom find in most people and I came to call some of them my best friends. This label of “lesbian” never really crossed my mind shortly after I got to know them. Sure, they date their same sex, but why should doing what they feel is right encourage society to punish them? It kills me and breaks my heart that some people can’t accept them for who they are. It hurts even more to know that when they finally decide they want to spend their lives with someone, they might not be able to have their dream wedding that every girl dreams of when they are young, regardless of sexuality. It’s not fair to have to live life not being able to legally pledge yourself to the person you love just because of the country of ignorant decision makers.
Everyone is different, everyone has different wants and needs, and we are not supposed to judge them for it. How did this country turn into so many people that have forgotten their childhood lessons? Share your toys, brush your teeth, and be polite. Is it polite to tell someone they can’t do what they want? Not want, but need. Being gay isn’t necessarily a choice, it’s just how certain people are built, it’s the way they are. It has nothing to do with what they want or choose to do; it’s the only thing that feels natural to them.
Living in a world where others can’t accept the way you live is heartbreaking. Everyone is different, and we don’t judge others based on every single difference, even when it’s visible. No one should be scared to be who they are, and hide from the world just because they are afraid of a reaction. Who’s to say what’s right and what’s wrong? Who’s to say what most of the population does is right by being straight and dating outside their own gender? Who’s to make the decision that they are doing something that “isn’t right?” We should be able to recognize that being gay; being homosexual isn’t a negative thing. If it has nothing to do with you, don’t get involved. Is that really so hard?
Sheryl Crow said it best, “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad…” Lesbian, straight, bi, tall, short, skinny, fat, we all deserve happiness no matter what. I still can’t come to understand how anyone is homophobic, or afraid of these people who make a decision to be themselves. It takes a lot of courage to participate in the unfamiliar, unaccepted place in society, but all they can do is be who they are. Will we ever live to see a time where we aren’t judged by the gender of our liking, but the content of our character?
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