Monday, October 18, 2004

So, I was privileged enough to be invited to a wedding between two women in Reno a few weeks ago. And it was probably the most heartfelt wedding I have ever been to. One of the women heads up a very successful band in San Francisco and the other is a successful Abstract Expressionist artist. So, the whole event was pretty creative.

As I sat there during the ceremony, it didn't seem strange to me at all. All I saw was two people in love making a commitment to each other in front of family and friends. It was wonderful. They weren't doing it because society expected it of them or because it was the conventional thing to do. They did it out of sincere love and commitment for one another.

I've seen lots of heterosexual marriages I don't respect. It seems that divorce and infidelity are becoming the standards of the day. Marriage is tough. Really hard work I feel that if people actually want to go through all of that together, they should be allowed to. It's not let heterosexuals are setting a particularly good example.

And if some of you are so concerned about defining marriage as being between a man and woman that you need an amendment about it. Fine. But then you must start giving homosexual couples the same rights as married ones. Even if you don't define them as married. Because it's the right thing to do and our country wasn't founded on discrimination. We need equality across the board and true liberty and justice for ALL.

3 comments:

Genevieve said...

I don't disagree with your basic point here. The only thing I do disagree about is that if you define homosexual unions as something other than marriage, even if you give them all the exact same rights, it's not the same. Separate but equal doesn't work.

Amy M. said...

I agree with you Vieve but I feel that to get any equal rights at this moment we have to take what we can get. Sometimes, it takes baby steps to get things accomplished. Honestly, I think the whole Federal Marriage Amendment thing is ridiculous and offensive. It's not the government's job to define marriage.

Genevieve said...

I agree that the Amendment is offensive. But it is the government's job to define marriage. If not the government, then who? Marriage is a completely socially constructed instituion. The government can tell you you can't marry your brother or your uncle. They give benefits and responsibilities to those who are married. I think that we need to separate civil marriage & church marriage. That way the government can give any rights to anyone it wants, but no church has to do the same. (which is already the case, I mean, churches can refuse to marry a man & a woman if they don't think they are well suited) Maybe we should just abolish marriage for everyone. Of course, as you know, I'm crazy. :-)