Giving Gay Marriage a Chance

It's weird to have to write something like this in 2013, and not, say, 1945.

It's even more weird that this is still an issue.  Actually, weird isn't the proper word.  Sad is the real word that should be used.  Sad that in this day and age, we are allowed to segregate some people from their rights as Americans.

The Supreme Court is currently reviewing whether to overturn Prop 8, the California law that bans gay marriage.  The controversial law was voted in to place by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin, back in November of 2008. 

What is happening shows just how divided America is, not by race, but by generational thinking.

It takes no more effort than to look at various social media outlets to see that there is a significant backing by people under the age of 35 for gay rights equality.  Whether it be #MarriageEquality on Twitter, or the Love equals Love posts on Facebook, the younger side of America has used the various forms of expression they are familiar with to throw their support behind the right for gay marriage.

The resistance, by and large, comes from an older generation who believes in the sanctity of marriage, and that it should only be between a man and woman.  This is roughly the equivalent of saying that there should be separate schools for white and black students.  Both are/were incredibly misguided attempts by people who are too fearful to realize there is nothing to be fearful about.

The fear is that, if gay marriage is legalized, then it will open the floodgates for people to marry light sockets, pigs and a rather comely light post.  For one thing, LET THEM. I'd much rather have a person deciding that they want to be within the loving embrace of a light post than forcing themselves to reproduce and continue to muddy the gene pool.

Secondly, this is pretty much the equivalent of saying: "If we allow all dogs to walk without their leashes, then birds attacks will rise."  Look at that sentence and try to make sense of it.  Doesn't make much sense, does it? 

That's how most of the younger generation see the argument against gay marriage.  Love is love.  Love doesn't have to have boundaries that are outlined by what, the church? The Bible?  No, more likely, as we become more open to homosexuality, our generation and the generation below mine know more and more people who are unafraid to come out of the closet and are proud to be who they are.

That wasn't always the case.  For our grandparents, and even our parents, it was something to be shameful of.  It was the way that they were taught. Homosexuality was taught as wrong.  They were pushed to the fringes of society, fearing repercussion from a close-minded society.

Times have changed.  Call it a gentrification of modern society.  We've grown up less interested in what someone is, but rather, who that person is. 

It doesn't matter who they love, but rather, that they love in the first place.  Life is too short to get hung up on who other people want to be with.  We are more concerned with who we want to be with.  It's not about peering into our neighbors windows, but rather it's about peering into our own souls.

They should be able to get married and adopt children, if they so choose.  I can assure you that a gay couple will do a better job raising a well-adjusted kid than the family with the Confederate flag hanging in their living room.  They will teach acceptance instead of hate.  They will have children that they care about and love, not children that are the unfortunate result of a condom "accident."

That, or maybe we've just grown to hate marriage in it's traditional form.

Maybe marriage just isn't as important to us.  Maybe that's why we are so willing to allow it. We've watched years of marriages fall apart.  People fall in love. People fall out of love. Infidelity. Mounting bills. One child too many.  One child too few. One pound too many gained. Just too much something. Marriage just isn't the same as it used to be.  It doesn't tie people together for life. So maybe it's just not that big of a deal for anyone who wants to get married.

Oooooor, maybe we just care about our friends and family members.  Maybe we want them to have the right to be (miserably married) just like the rest of us.  Maybe we want them to make their love official.  Maybe we live in a world where it's more important for someone to show their love for whoever they want, whether it be man or woman, than to be told what true love is.

It's time we rise as a collective and say that we are not going to allow the homophobic dictate our laws.  Law can't be enforced when the law comes from a place of hate. 

These are people that are dear to us.  People that deserve to be treated the same way as us.  More importantly, they are us.  We are one people, just trying to make it through this crazy little thing called life.  As we whip through the universe, there are tons of things to worry about: North Korea, cancer, global warming, the south.

Gay marriage should be legal because it isn't a big deal.  Marriage is just a word.  But so is acceptance. And that word is much more important than hate.