Almost a year has passed since the legalization of same sex marriage on June 26, 2015. Many homosexuals, bisexuals, pansexuals, transexuals, intersexuals, heterosexuals, and lots of other sexuals and asexuals united to celebrate this long awaited victory. This diverse rainbow of sexualities now rejoices in the new rights that accompany marriage. Some of those federal rights include access to children’s school records, joint custody, next-of-kin status in emergency medical situations, and visitation rights in hospitals. These are just of few of the reasons why “just living together and being in a life-long relationship” is not an acceptable alternative for many.
In the month that should be prideful, I came across a Facebook post shared from a guy I had met once that had a rainbow with the red circle and a line symbol: the 'no' symbol, the anti- symbol. The text on top read “Sorry don’t support gay marriage.”
I am very willing to comment on Facebook threads when I disagree with ideas, but when it comes to people I know, I’m much more hesitant. Yet, I had this internal push that just would not let me scroll past this post as the likes tallied. I had to say something. In the midst of an argument, it’s sometimes difficult to truly translate your thoughts and feelings into words. Now, I’m fully ready. Here’s what I have to say, and since the Odyssey seems to love lists...
What is gay marriage?
Marriage doesn’t have a sexuality. People have sexualities. There is no such thing as gay marriage. A marriage is not straight. It’s not gay. It’s a marriage. Furthermore, gay does not represent the full spectrum of people now legally able to marry. Same sex marriage is more accurate.
What exactly don’t you support?
You don’t support love? You don’t support happiness? You don’t support humanity? You don’t support equality? You don’t support federal rights being granted to others? You don’t support differences? You don’t support progress?
Why are you so concerned?
Other people’s marriage does not affect you whatsoever. If you don’t support same sex marriage, fine, don’t participate in it! No one is forcing you to marry the same sex but if other people want to, why does that bother you? It’s not your place to tell someone else that they shouldn’t be able to get married.
It’s not something that requires your support
It’s almost laughable in the way this person acts as if “gay marriage” requires their approval. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t support it.” You don’t need to support it. Imagine if the post had said, “Sorry don’t support straight marriage.” Again, marriage doesn’t have a sexuality and that just sounds ridiculous. I don’t know how to fully encapsulate how ignorant that sounds. It’s almost like saying, “Sorry don’t support eggs” to me. OK, sorry, eggs still exist.
It’s already legalized
Go take a big scoop of your bigot ice cream. Go rant about how you think love is disgusting. Go be an asshole. Keep sharing your post so everyone can be reminded that this hatred still exists and there is a long road ahead to equality. But until then same sex marriage will continue, better close your eyes!
If you desire education
Maybe you’re ignorant. Maybe you just don’t know people with other sexualities. I’m a firm believer that awareness is necessary to prevent discrimination. If you want to educate yourself, there are so many resources. Here’s a cool video that really puts things into perspective for straight people -- “Imagine A World Where Being ‘Gay’ Was The Norm & Being ‘Straight’ Would Be The Minority!”
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (since LGBT isn’t super inclusive), let’s party
And to the rest of us who support equality, whatever your sexuality, let’s remember, it’s June. You know what that means? Pride. Get out there, be happy, kiss, love. Show these bigots that we don’t need their approval.
