This is about equality

Starting today, the Supreme Court of the United States is going to be listening to arguments about Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. Pretty much, they're going to make the decision about marriage equality in this country.

What enrages me is the fact that this has even needed to go to the SCOTUS. I remember reading this little phrase as a kid and thinking that this was really the answer to this question of marriage equality. I know its not a very well know sentence but it stuck with me. It means that all United States citizens are allowed the same rights. It means we are all granted the same equal rights.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." 

I know, as a country we've really had to struggle and fight to make sure the color of a person's skin and what's between their legs isn't what's going to make them a person. I know getting equal rights is still something we fight for every day. Women still fight for equal rights and equal pay. People of different nationalities are still fighting to be treated the same as a white man. But the situations for all people (except maybe the white, land-owning male) has really improved in this country. Equality is something that everyone agrees on, equality is a good thing. We all deserve to be treated equally and given the same equal rights and equal opportunities.

So why are we even discussing whether or not people of the same sex should have the right to get married?

Is it because marriage is a "Christian institution" so they get to decide who can get married? No. Because people in other religions and in other countries get married all the time. People with no religion get married in this country all the time. Marriage is by no means a Christian institution. If you're going to sit back and tell me that marriage is a Christian institution and they get to decide the rules, then you're also telling me that this is a Christian nation and Christians are the ones to make the rules. But they aren't.

One of the founding principles of this country is the separation of Church and State. Many of the people that founded this country fled their homes in other countries in search of a place they could worship or not worship what they wanted without fear of persecution. By turning a secular thing like marriage into a religious institution wherein they get to make the rules breaks this simple principal. It means that anyone that gets married must be a Christian or its not a "real" marriage.

Every American citizen is allowed the same set of inalienable rights. This is what this country was built on. Are homosexual men not citizens? Are homosexual women not citizens? Just because someone is bisexual, they're not a citizen? Just because they're transgender, they don't matter? Its time we as a country realize that just because someone loves someone you don't think they should love learn to just say... Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because it is of no concern who other people love.

And if you want to tell me that these couples really don't need to get married, I'm calling BS. Not only because you're denying them a right that they should have as an American citizen, but because there are things that are granted to married couples in this country that a same-sex couple can't have because of who they love. Don't believe me, read up here about some of the benefits of marriage. How could the SCOTUS say that it is in fact constitutional to deny American citizens these rights?

I really hope in the (near) future students will read their textbooks in school about this time in our history when these couples had to fight so hard to be able to love people and look back with the same disgust that we look back on the fight of African Americans. These are basic rights. By denying them you are saying that we are not all equal.

This isn't that hard, people. Love is love.

Day 8: A Photo that Makes you Angry or Sad

Don't Ask, Don't Tell. How could someone ever support this? Just because someone is gay does not mean they should not be able to serve their country. Anything along the same lines where the religious right wants to make a homosexual a second class citizen is just wrong. When I hear about it, it makes me mad. When I see the religious right trying to take over the country and force their beliefs on the rest of the country, it makes me mad. And when they tear down an entire community because of the fact that they love the wrong person, that makes me sick.