My version of the "marriage is love" meme

[pne]

Marriage is between a man and a woman.

Comments

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

All right, now that I'm not frothing at the mouth and seeing red anymore (and please understand, I do not mean to attack your personal beliefs here -- or rather, I do mean to attack your beliefs, but not in an antagonistic fashion, and I absolutely do not intend to attack you) --

I am sick and tired of straight people telling me that I am a second class citizen because I love someone who happens to be wearing the same skin I wear. I am sick and tired of people using their religious beliefs to justify bigotry and hatred. I am sick and tired of legislated discrimination.

As many others have pointed out in the comments so far, marriage is not just a religious institution, nor is it simply a personal one; it is a legalized and state-sanctioned form of combining households and estates. Marriage is not simply "we will live together and love each other". Marriage confers a number of benefits, from tax-related to insurance-related to other financial details.

As it stands now, I have no legal rights. If my girlfriend -- soon to be my wife, in our eyes and God's eyes even if not in the law's eyes, and yes, we belong to a church that believes that same-sex marriage is a blessing, not a sin -- were to fall critically ill, I would not be permitted to see her in the hospital. If one of us were to obtain health insurance through a job, the other would not necessarily be permitted to share that insurance -- and if we were, it would be taxed as "imputed income", resulting in a heavy tax penalty. If one of us were to die, the beneficiary of the insurance would be taxed nearly twice as heavily as if we were a heterosexual partnership, and that's even assuming that it was allowed to stand, as the family of the deceased is permitted to challenge the deceased's will (and, in cases of same-sex partnerships, frequently win, leaving the surviving partner with nothing).

I know that you're not living in the US, so you might not be familiar with all of the aspects of "marriage" as a state-sponsored institution, not just a social institution. I'd like to ask you to read this essay (http://www.livejournal.com/users/ladysisyphus/98113.html), reprinted by my girlfriend from a fellow student of hers. It describes why the fight for gay marriage is so important, from someone who's been there and lived it. This post (http://www.livejournal.com/users/mrmoonpants/87749.html) contains a less emotional analysis of the situation. I have a friend, a man who had been in a partnership with another man for nearly ten years, whose partner was killed suddenly and unexpectedly last year. He is now homeless, because his partner's family did not approve of their son's "lifestyle", challenged their son's will, and won, obtaining the house that my friend and his partner had bought together.

I support a religion's right to define "marriage" any way it wants. Against gay marriage? Don't have one. If your church -- or anyone's church -- thinks that gay marriage is a sin, they don't have to perform them; there are plenty of churches that will and do. But I will not accept being told that I have fewer legal rights than, say, my baby sister, just because one of us is engaged to a boy and one of us is engaged to a girl.

You are absolutely entitled to your own opinion regarding this, and I support your opinion and cheer loudly for your right to air it in public fora. The world would be boring if we all thought alike. But when opinion reaches the level of legislated discrimination, ruining people's lives in the name of an ideal that did not even exist before approximately 200 years ago, it is wrong and it is evil and it must be stopped.

Re:

[christine.livejournal.com]

I agree absolutely. Gays and lesbians are no less citizen than straights. Right now under federal law, the GBLT community is the only group that it is still legal to discriminate against, as sexual orientation is not covered by federal Civil Rights laws. That puts a damper on and justice for all.

We say we seperate church and state, but we're basing our laws on (rediculous) Judeo-Christian "values." Our president claims to be a compassionate conservative (a paradox if I've ever heard one), but is trying to ammend the constitution against any possibility of same sex marriage- even though his vice presidents daughter is openly lesbian (but then again.. who is Dick Chenney, and where has he been this presidency anyway).

That's the legal aspect... as far as religion is concerned, I don't know about Christian God, under whom this country was obviously founded, but my God loves everybody, white black and purple, gay, straight and everything in between.

Re:

[christine.livejournal.com]

p.s.

my girlfriend -- soon to be my wife, in our eyes and God's eyes even if not in the law's eyes

Congratulations <3