I’m (among other things) liberal, atheist, lesbian, spiritual, vegetarian. I was a Christian from age eight to somewhere in my 29th year. I’ve studied Psychology and Sociology formally and many other subjects informally. For 20 years I worked in Human Services, mostly with adults who have developmental disabilities and adults who have mental illnesses, but also with homeless families. I contribute what I can to organized charities such as America’s Second Harvest, The Humane Society of the US and Doctors Without Borders as well as to “non-organized charities” (so to speak). In short, I try to do good to and for people.
I also refuse to force, either by proselytization or by any other means, other people to live by my beliefs (or lack thereof). For example, I am a vegetarian but I would never demand others become vegetarians nor would I even advocate that they do so. I am an atheist, but I would never try to convince others to give up their belief in god(s) or demand legislation that prohibited religion. I wish to be free to live my life so long as I don’t cause harm to others, and I’ll leave others to be free so long as they don’t cause harm to me. If it harm no one, do as ye will.
For the purposes of the next argument, this graphic will represent me and a hypothetical woman I might want to marry in the future:
My partner and I want to get Married. Yes, I said
Married. We don’t want to get Civil-Unioned or Domestic-Partnered, regardless of infinite promises that said bondings will provide the same rights and obligations as Marriage.
New Jersey and
Vermont experiments with CU/DP prove, once again, that “Separate but Equal” simply isn’t. Legal Marriage provides more than
1,000 federal benefitsthat no state-based CP/DP can provide, nor can state-by-state Marriage. We need a federally recognized and supported Marriage, just like heterosexual couples have.
Now this picture represents Family X:
Mom and dad of Family X state that they are Christians . They oppose the right of me and my partner to have a federally recognized Marriage because according to their deeply held religious beliefs homosexuality is wrong. In fact, to them I am on par with murderers, thieves, child abusers and drug addicts because I love a woman rather than a man. Nothing I am, stand for or do overcomes the fact that I am a lesbian. I am an “abomination” in their eyes. They voted for the Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in their state, and they consistently vote for politicians who oppose equal rights for LGBT people.
Now here is my question, and it is a simple one:
Why does Family X feel they have the right to force me, my partner, and millions of others like us, to live according to the dictates of their religion? If same-sex marriage became legal tomorrow, those opposed would not be forced to marry someone of the same sex. Churches opposed to same-sex marriage would not be required to marry same-sex couples just as they’re not required to marry couples of faiths other than their own. Nobody’s deeply held religious beliefs would be constrained in any way by providing equal marriage rights to gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans.
Even my Democratic politicans feel the need to pander to those who want to keep me from having equal marriage rights, or (worse yet) agree that I don’t deserve equal marriage rights. So I ask again, and hope for some logical answers:
Why does Family X feel they have the right to force me, my partner, and millions of others like us, to live according to the dictates of their religion?