On marriage equality
By Jamie Garrett, Opinions Columnist
Most of the time I’m not overly concerned with what people think about this, that and the other thing; individual perspectives are interesting to me but not always pertinent to my own thoughts and, generally, I’m not moved by the opinions of others. There is, however, one view that I will never understand, that I find disgusting and that should be radically changed and erased from the collective consciousness and that view is that marriage equality (specifically same-sex marriage) should not be supported and legalized.
I don’t understand such a sentiment and I will never grasp where it comes from. If the Bible is one’s go-to manual for moral instruction on all matters, then how is it so easy to skip to Leviticus while bypassing all of Jesus’ messages of universal love and universal acceptance. Is it a case of arrested development where one is still stuck in the elementary mindset that seeing a man kiss a man or a woman holding hands with a woman is “wrong” or “gross” or “just not right”? If so, please leave. Please leave the national and international conversation that centers on marriage equality because your sophomoric visions of what love is have construed same-sex love into an evil thing: When homosexuals are systematically rounded up and murdered in select African countries, when psychology and military handbooks label homosexuality a “mental illness,” when kids across the nation commit suicide after coming out of the closet on their own or by the force of another person, something is wrong. Something is wrong when the inalienable right to love another person is taken away from the few because of the misguided notions of the majority.
Marriage equality is a human rights issue. Love is a human rights issue. The ideas in play here are deathly serious for all whom they affect and that is every person. When a heteronormative society does not just make heterosexuality the “norm” but any other sexuality “wrong” or “incorrect,” then that society has gone astray from the basic principles that many have fought and died for: to love another person is to understand why life is worth having. Denying any person the right to openly celebrate their love for another human being is a dangerous error in thought; when that feeling becomes institutionalized and it is spread throughout the fabric of a society, it must be fought, counteracted and corrected because I can safely say that love is never wrong.
This year, people are still fighting against entrenched, dogmatic views that hold same-sex love and marriage to be a gross wrong, a moral failing, a distancing from God, or “a phase” that someone is working through. My America is watching more young people die because they are not accepted because of who they love. My America is watching old men and women die knowing that they will never see a day when the love that they feel or felt for their partners will be recognized as legitimate. My America continually refuses to change its ways and progress towards a future in which marriage equality will be enforced and upheld. The inalienable right to love whoever you so choose is yours and yours alone and I support you in your endeavor. Hold out, give it more time: the tide is turning in my America and soon enough your love will be free. In the meantime, let them insult you, let them curse you, let them protest against you, but know that you have a love that they cannot touch: an inalienable, transcendent love.
