The Sanctity of Marriage
How does passing a law that prevents civil unions between consenting adults interfere with the sanctity of marriage? Religious ceremony certainly hasn't insured the success of marriage. 40% of all marriages end in divorce, 50% of all children in the United States will spend some time in a single parent home.
I haven't seen any data showing that millions of men and women are waiting for gay marriage to be approved so they can leave their heterosexual spouse to marry their gay lovers. All current research shows that homosexuality is a complex combination of physiological and psychological factors that the individuals so oriented have little or no control over. Ask any homosexual and their journey is usually a painful one of accepting themselves the way they are, no one seeks out an alternative "lifestyle" just to suffer discriminatory treatment all their life.
The so-called homosexual agenda is a quest for equal treatment, not an attempt to recruit people to the homosexual lifestyle. Those who talk of a homosexual agenda need to look up homophobia in the dictionary.
One of the more ridiculous arguments I heard on a national TV program was that we have to protect and promote procreation. Does anybody really believe that people will stop procreating if we don't pass a "Marriage Protection Amendment". We can't even get people to wait until they are grown up and married to procreate. The last I looked we were procreating ourselves into a global crises. Texas has the second highest teenage birth rate in the country (Mississippi is first) and Corpus one of the highest rates in Texas.
What Civil Union Really Means
What gays are asking for is to be able to make the same legal commitments to each other as any other couple that love each other. Can you imagine if you lived with your spouse for 10, 15, 20 years or more and you weren't allowed to provide health insurance for them, to be able to make decisions for them if they are sick, to determine how they should be treated in death, to inherit jointly owned property without
question. That is just some of the discrimination
that same sex couples face.
My brother died at age 38 in 1992 of AIDs related illness. My parents after much self questioning and education had accepted his sexual orientation and the fact that he had AIDs. He died in our mother's arms.
My parents were devastated and numb with grief. My sister who is a right wing evangelical Christian swung in and took over. Even though she rejected him in life, would not allow him around his nephews and told him he "would burn in Hell", she decided to control the events around his burial.
A ceremony was held in the church of her choice, with a service performed by a minister who believed my brother was a mortal sinner and would burn in hell.
No mention was made that he was gay. No mention was made that he raised more then a million dollars for the AIDS Quilt Project. No mention was made of the many newly diagnosed HIV/AIDs patients he talked to in order to share some of the peace and hope that he had found in his own spirituality after being diagnosed.
No mention was made of the thousands volunteer hours he donated, sometimes from a hospital bed, for HIV/AIDs related education and causes. His friends were made to not feel welcome and left early. I am grateful that he had buried his long-term partner two years before who had died from AIDs related illness.
His partner would have been excluded, in the cruelest manner, from participating in the most intimate process of love, burying and grieving a loved one.
So when you say you support the sanctity of marriage please allow everyone to decide what that means for him or her. If your marriage is threatened because gays can marry it doesn't have anything to do with them. Think about it, no one should be denied the full benefits of a loving relationship.
John M. Kelley is a teacher, philosopher, writer, artist, political activist, singer of ballads, rebellious Irishman and agent for change who worries daily about the world he is leaving for his grandchildren. His blog is at http://www.mytown.ca/johnkelley
How does passing a law that prevents civil unions between consenting adults interfere with the sanctity of marriage? Religious ceremony certainly hasn't insured the success of marriage. 40% of all marriages end in divorce, 50% of all children in the United States will spend some time in a single parent home.
I haven't seen any data showing that millions of men and women are waiting for gay marriage to be approved so they can leave their heterosexual spouse to marry their gay lovers. All current research shows that homosexuality is a complex combination of physiological and psychological factors that the individuals so oriented have little or no control over. Ask any homosexual and their journey is usually a painful one of accepting themselves the way they are, no one seeks out an alternative "lifestyle" just to suffer discriminatory treatment all their life.
The so-called homosexual agenda is a quest for equal treatment, not an attempt to recruit people to the homosexual lifestyle. Those who talk of a homosexual agenda need to look up homophobia in the dictionary.
One of the more ridiculous arguments I heard on a national TV program was that we have to protect and promote procreation. Does anybody really believe that people will stop procreating if we don't pass a "Marriage Protection Amendment". We can't even get people to wait until they are grown up and married to procreate. The last I looked we were procreating ourselves into a global crises. Texas has the second highest teenage birth rate in the country (Mississippi is first) and Corpus one of the highest rates in Texas.
What gays are asking for is to be able to make the same legal commitments to each other as any other couple that love each other. Can you imagine if you lived with your spouse for 10, 15, 20 years or more and you weren't allowed to provide health insurance for them, to be able to make decisions for them if they are sick, to determine how they should be treated in death, to inherit jointly owned property without
question. That is just some of the discrimination
that same sex couples face.
My brother died at age 38 in 1992 of AIDs related illness. My parents after much self questioning and education had accepted his sexual orientation and the fact that he had AIDs. He died in our mother's arms.
My parents were devastated and numb with grief. My sister who is a right wing evangelical Christian swung in and took over. Even though she rejected him in life, would not allow him around his nephews and told him he "would burn in Hell", she decided to control the events around his burial.
A ceremony was held in the church of her choice, with a service performed by a minister who believed my brother was a mortal sinner and would burn in hell.
No mention was made that he was gay. No mention was made that he raised more then a million dollars for the AIDS Quilt Project. No mention was made of the many newly diagnosed HIV/AIDs patients he talked to in order to share some of the peace and hope that he had found in his own spirituality after being diagnosed.
No mention was made of the thousands volunteer hours he donated, sometimes from a hospital bed, for HIV/AIDs related education and causes. His friends were made to not feel welcome and left early. I am grateful that he had buried his long-term partner two years before who had died from AIDs related illness.
His partner would have been excluded, in the cruelest manner, from participating in the most intimate process of love, burying and grieving a loved one.
So when you say you support the sanctity of marriage please allow everyone to decide what that means for him or her. If your marriage is threatened because gays can marry it doesn't have anything to do with them. Think about it, no one should be denied the full benefits of a loving relationship.
John M. Kelley is a teacher, philosopher, writer, artist, political activist, singer of ballads, rebellious Irishman and agent for change who worries daily about the world he is leaving for his grandchildren. His blog is at http://www.mytown.ca/johnkelley
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