Gay Marriage Essay...yeah
Feb. 18th, 2004 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynneFuck, I'm tired. It's only 9:00 PM, and I'm about to fall asleep. Come on, body, wake up. What happened to surviving on five hours of sleep for weeks on end?
I am missing out on a lot by having read nothing by Neil Gaiman (except Good Omens, if that counts), aren't I? Before I am stoned in a public square...any recs? What should I read first?
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madilayn, I got your Veilfic. But as am quite tired, while probably get to beta-ing it tomorrow or Friday. At least it's short.
I wrote a very long thing about gay marriage and homosexuality that is trying to be persuasive. Tear it apart, people. Or at least tell me if you think it is persuasive. There's a few homophobes I know that I want to show it to...
There are certain phrases that all Americans are familiar with. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…The Declaration of Independence, of course. We all know the line. And here’s another one. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…You’re familiar with that one too, aren’t you? The Constitution, our most beloved document, detailing our rights and the rights of our government. The Fourteenth Amendment—No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Freedom was very important to our forefathers, and it continues to be very important to us today. According to the Declaration of Independence, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights. According to the Constitution, we are supposed to have justice, domestic tranquility, defense, liberty…and we have it. Our government provides well for us.
Nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, we fought a civil war in order to ensure the freedom of those society looked down upon and who were cast as inhuman and inferior. United States soldiers died for equality’s sake, so that African-Americans could live without bondage. Sixty years ago, we fought another war in order to stop a madman from denying rights and equality to a whole class of citizens, and to stop his heinous torturing and killing because he believed himself superior. Forty years ago the fight for civil rights in our country continued, so that blacks could be seen as the equals they are. Looking back at slavery, Nazis, and segregation, we can agree that they were wrong and immoral, because of the basic fact that they denied humans their unalienable rights.
We’re constantly taught that discrimination is bad. People such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. are seen as heroes in today’s society for their fights against it. It is drilled into our minds at a young age that racism is bad, sexism is bad, that everybody should be given a fair chance based on his or her own merits and not skin color or gender. You are all familiar with Reverend King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. And I can say that I share Reverend King’s dream, to let freedom ring and discrimination be cast down.
Because discrimination has not been stamped out, not even in our beloved country that prides itself on its tolerance of others. But it is not discrimination against religion that I’m speaking of. Not discrimination against race or gender, physical or mental capabilities. But it exists, and is flourishing, even among those who pride themselves on being open-minded.
Discrimination is flourishing when young children are taught that homosexuality is a sin. Discrimination is flourishing when being called gay is an insult. Discrimination is flourishing when people just like you and me are afraid to love because they will constantly be derided. Discrimination is flourishing when people are forced to hide their true nature in order to not be made pariahs. Discrimination is flourishing when openly showing affection to the one you love earns you nothing but scorn. And discrimination is flourishing when two people are denied the right and privilege of getting married because they happen to be the same gender.
This discrimination hides itself in so many ways. It can take the form of religion, of ignorance, of fear. Its voice could be the forked tongue in your ear, whispering, “It’s unnatural, it’s disgusting, it’s not right.” But what is right, my friends? According to the two most beloved documents in this country, it is right to allow people their freedom and happiness, and wrong to take it away. What is right when a man develops AIDS and is taken away from the person he loves by his family to a hospital far from the place he has made his home, and his lover isn’t even allowed the right to see him, and is unable to say goodbye when he dies simply because the two were the same sex? What is right when two people are refused the right to share property, the right for hospital visitations, the right to make medical decisions no matter how long said persons have been partnered, the right of survivorship, and the right to be recognized as equal, simply because they are two men or two women? What is right when, even in Vermont, a state that has allowed civil unions to homosexuals, a straight couple goes to a town hall for a marriage license, they stand in one line, but if a gay couple goes to that same town hall for a civil union, they have to stand in the same line as people who have come to register their dogs? What is right when two people are afraid to pursue happiness because of organizations and individuals devoted specifically to deny them that happiness?
It is unnatural, some may argue. On the contrary, it happens within nature, and Nature lets her bonobos, her gulls, her manatees, her lions, her dolphins and whales and ostriches and so many more, indulge in homosexual behavior. There are currently male penguins in long-term relationships with each other in the New York City Zoo. Nature does not discriminate by species, by gender, by sexual orientation.
And it is true, God does disallow homosexuality in the Bible. But if we were to run our country according to biblical marriage standards, then men would be allowed bigamy and concubines, women who aren’t virgins when they get married should be executed, divorce wouldn’t be allowed, women who can’t find husbands should get their fathers drunk and have sex with them so their line doesn’t die out, and more things that are considered unacceptable in society today. If we are to obey the law against homosexuality, then why are we not obeying the other marriage or sexual laws the Bible provides for us?
They can’t be good parents, others say. They can’t provide for the needs of any children they may have because they are not one male and one female. You may say that a child needs both a mother and a father to grow up healthy. But what of the single mothers and fathers, whose spouses died or left them to raise the children alone? Such children are able to grow up perfectly healthy. The same would be true of children with two mothers or two fathers. And many seem to conveniently forget the heterosexual parents who do not fulfill the needs of their children, and close their eyes to the heterosexual children raised by homosexual parents. But there is one advantage that homosexual couples have over heterosexual, and that is that any children they have, they have because they want. There can be no accidental pregnancy with two men. One woman cannot get another pregnant. Any child they can have, they get because they want, provided society would let them.
And that is where the prejudice comes in stronger than ever. An amendment to our Constitution has been proposed, to redefine marriage as only between a man and a woman. H.J. Resolution 56 proposes to build discrimination into the very document that is supposed to protect us from it! It proposes to restrict expression of love to heterosexual couples only! And I am left wondering what happened to separation of church and state, if people are allowing their religious backgrounds to influence their legislative decisions, and that this country is letting them.
President Bush says that we should protect marriage. But how is allowing gays to marry harming it? Exactly what about it is threatening a straight person’s marriage? Marriage is a legal institution—not everyone gets married in a church, nor will anyone say that a straight couple is not married if they don’t. And what gays want are the legal benefits of marriage. They want to be able to visit each other in hospitals, make medical and financial decisions together, and all those other benefits a straight couple is allowed to have. If that right should be denied them, then the lauded freedom and equality in America is a lie, because prejudice is being endorsed by our very president, and trying to be written into the very Constitution that is supposed to protect our rights. Not allowing gay marriage puts paid to America’s treasured ideals of equality, and many in Congress apparently don’t care.
Discrimination against homosexuality is discrimination against love. It is a woeful turn of events for our country, so adamant in its protection of freedoms, to then forbid them to its own citizens based on something they can no more help than an African-American can help his or her skin color. It saddens me greatly to find that the country I so admire and love continues feeding itself discrimination at its very heart. And I can only hope that it breaks out of its darkness and allows one of the greatest gifts a person could receive, the gift of love and happiness and commitment, to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation. Because love is love, regardless of gender, and I hope even American’s homosexual citizens are allowed to freely and openly experience its wonder without fear of prejudice and discrimination that could only serve to tear this country apart.
Not having the patience to read the Bible, I am especially weak with all religious stuff, so any help there would be especially appreciated. Otherwise, just tell me what you think.
I am missing out on a lot by having read nothing by Neil Gaiman (except Good Omens, if that counts), aren't I? Before I am stoned in a public square...any recs? What should I read first?
madilayn, I got your Veilfic. But as am quite tired, while probably get to beta-ing it tomorrow or Friday. At least it's short.I wrote a very long thing about gay marriage and homosexuality that is trying to be persuasive. Tear it apart, people. Or at least tell me if you think it is persuasive. There's a few homophobes I know that I want to show it to...
There are certain phrases that all Americans are familiar with. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…The Declaration of Independence, of course. We all know the line. And here’s another one. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…You’re familiar with that one too, aren’t you? The Constitution, our most beloved document, detailing our rights and the rights of our government. The Fourteenth Amendment—No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Freedom was very important to our forefathers, and it continues to be very important to us today. According to the Declaration of Independence, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights. According to the Constitution, we are supposed to have justice, domestic tranquility, defense, liberty…and we have it. Our government provides well for us.
Nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, we fought a civil war in order to ensure the freedom of those society looked down upon and who were cast as inhuman and inferior. United States soldiers died for equality’s sake, so that African-Americans could live without bondage. Sixty years ago, we fought another war in order to stop a madman from denying rights and equality to a whole class of citizens, and to stop his heinous torturing and killing because he believed himself superior. Forty years ago the fight for civil rights in our country continued, so that blacks could be seen as the equals they are. Looking back at slavery, Nazis, and segregation, we can agree that they were wrong and immoral, because of the basic fact that they denied humans their unalienable rights.
We’re constantly taught that discrimination is bad. People such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. are seen as heroes in today’s society for their fights against it. It is drilled into our minds at a young age that racism is bad, sexism is bad, that everybody should be given a fair chance based on his or her own merits and not skin color or gender. You are all familiar with Reverend King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. And I can say that I share Reverend King’s dream, to let freedom ring and discrimination be cast down.
Because discrimination has not been stamped out, not even in our beloved country that prides itself on its tolerance of others. But it is not discrimination against religion that I’m speaking of. Not discrimination against race or gender, physical or mental capabilities. But it exists, and is flourishing, even among those who pride themselves on being open-minded.
Discrimination is flourishing when young children are taught that homosexuality is a sin. Discrimination is flourishing when being called gay is an insult. Discrimination is flourishing when people just like you and me are afraid to love because they will constantly be derided. Discrimination is flourishing when people are forced to hide their true nature in order to not be made pariahs. Discrimination is flourishing when openly showing affection to the one you love earns you nothing but scorn. And discrimination is flourishing when two people are denied the right and privilege of getting married because they happen to be the same gender.
This discrimination hides itself in so many ways. It can take the form of religion, of ignorance, of fear. Its voice could be the forked tongue in your ear, whispering, “It’s unnatural, it’s disgusting, it’s not right.” But what is right, my friends? According to the two most beloved documents in this country, it is right to allow people their freedom and happiness, and wrong to take it away. What is right when a man develops AIDS and is taken away from the person he loves by his family to a hospital far from the place he has made his home, and his lover isn’t even allowed the right to see him, and is unable to say goodbye when he dies simply because the two were the same sex? What is right when two people are refused the right to share property, the right for hospital visitations, the right to make medical decisions no matter how long said persons have been partnered, the right of survivorship, and the right to be recognized as equal, simply because they are two men or two women? What is right when, even in Vermont, a state that has allowed civil unions to homosexuals, a straight couple goes to a town hall for a marriage license, they stand in one line, but if a gay couple goes to that same town hall for a civil union, they have to stand in the same line as people who have come to register their dogs? What is right when two people are afraid to pursue happiness because of organizations and individuals devoted specifically to deny them that happiness?
It is unnatural, some may argue. On the contrary, it happens within nature, and Nature lets her bonobos, her gulls, her manatees, her lions, her dolphins and whales and ostriches and so many more, indulge in homosexual behavior. There are currently male penguins in long-term relationships with each other in the New York City Zoo. Nature does not discriminate by species, by gender, by sexual orientation.
And it is true, God does disallow homosexuality in the Bible. But if we were to run our country according to biblical marriage standards, then men would be allowed bigamy and concubines, women who aren’t virgins when they get married should be executed, divorce wouldn’t be allowed, women who can’t find husbands should get their fathers drunk and have sex with them so their line doesn’t die out, and more things that are considered unacceptable in society today. If we are to obey the law against homosexuality, then why are we not obeying the other marriage or sexual laws the Bible provides for us?
They can’t be good parents, others say. They can’t provide for the needs of any children they may have because they are not one male and one female. You may say that a child needs both a mother and a father to grow up healthy. But what of the single mothers and fathers, whose spouses died or left them to raise the children alone? Such children are able to grow up perfectly healthy. The same would be true of children with two mothers or two fathers. And many seem to conveniently forget the heterosexual parents who do not fulfill the needs of their children, and close their eyes to the heterosexual children raised by homosexual parents. But there is one advantage that homosexual couples have over heterosexual, and that is that any children they have, they have because they want. There can be no accidental pregnancy with two men. One woman cannot get another pregnant. Any child they can have, they get because they want, provided society would let them.
And that is where the prejudice comes in stronger than ever. An amendment to our Constitution has been proposed, to redefine marriage as only between a man and a woman. H.J. Resolution 56 proposes to build discrimination into the very document that is supposed to protect us from it! It proposes to restrict expression of love to heterosexual couples only! And I am left wondering what happened to separation of church and state, if people are allowing their religious backgrounds to influence their legislative decisions, and that this country is letting them.
President Bush says that we should protect marriage. But how is allowing gays to marry harming it? Exactly what about it is threatening a straight person’s marriage? Marriage is a legal institution—not everyone gets married in a church, nor will anyone say that a straight couple is not married if they don’t. And what gays want are the legal benefits of marriage. They want to be able to visit each other in hospitals, make medical and financial decisions together, and all those other benefits a straight couple is allowed to have. If that right should be denied them, then the lauded freedom and equality in America is a lie, because prejudice is being endorsed by our very president, and trying to be written into the very Constitution that is supposed to protect our rights. Not allowing gay marriage puts paid to America’s treasured ideals of equality, and many in Congress apparently don’t care.
Discrimination against homosexuality is discrimination against love. It is a woeful turn of events for our country, so adamant in its protection of freedoms, to then forbid them to its own citizens based on something they can no more help than an African-American can help his or her skin color. It saddens me greatly to find that the country I so admire and love continues feeding itself discrimination at its very heart. And I can only hope that it breaks out of its darkness and allows one of the greatest gifts a person could receive, the gift of love and happiness and commitment, to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation. Because love is love, regardless of gender, and I hope even American’s homosexual citizens are allowed to freely and openly experience its wonder without fear of prejudice and discrimination that could only serve to tear this country apart.
Not having the patience to read the Bible, I am especially weak with all religious stuff, so any help there would be especially appreciated. Otherwise, just tell me what you think.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-02-18 09:27 pm (UTC)As for the rest, I'll take a better look at that tomorrow. 'Bit late now. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-18 09:58 pm (UTC)Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Which isn't actually possible, from an anatomical standpoint, is it? I mean, men CAN'T have sex with men in precisely the manner that they can with women.
As far as I can recall, there is no commandment in the Bible that forbids women from having sex with women.
All in all, I consider your essay accurate and excellent. The Shrub would hate it. Well done!
no subject
Date: 2004-02-18 10:03 pm (UTC)Oooh, does that mean loophole? :p Bwahaha. More ammunition!
Thanks ^__^. I spent much time on that blasted thing. Stupid Shrub.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-18 10:11 pm (UTC)Brilliant essay, by the way. ^^
no subject
Date: 2004-02-19 04:40 am (UTC)Gaiman Recs/gay marriage
Date: 2004-02-19 05:43 am (UTC)Now about your essay - I do have some comments and suggestions, but I need to have more tea and get them into manageable format, so will post them separately, or email you if that's okay. I spent 7 years teaching English & part of my current RL job involves a fair amount of nonfiction writing & editing, and I love doing it. Plus,this is an issue that's really close to my heart.
Gay Marriage again, sorry
Date: 2004-02-19 06:19 am (UTC)On the whole, though, your essay is very effective, just needs a little tweaking to be damn near perfect. I have limited hope that the type of people you are addressing have the capacity for logical thought, but that's just my innate pessimism showing through.
Re: Gay Marriage again, sorry
Date: 2004-02-19 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-19 08:40 am (UTC)With regard to the essay, I think the content is fantastic and I'm glad that you brought up the penguins.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-19 09:13 pm (UTC)Sandman's a graphic novel then? Ooooh, must get it now. And see if the next Fushigi Yuugi one's out yet...Miaka's so much more tolerable in the manga than in the anime...
Re:
Date: 2004-02-20 10:08 am (UTC)Sandman Series
Date: 2004-02-20 08:01 pm (UTC)Book 1 -- Preludes and Nocturnes
Book 2 -- The Doll's House
Book 3 -- Dream Country
Book 4 -- Season of Mists
Book 5 -- A Game of You
Book 6 -- Fables and Reflections
Book 7 -- Brief Lives
Book 8 -- Worlds' End
Book 9 -- The Kindly Ones
Book 10 -- The Wake
Utterly, utterly brilliant, compelling, imaginative, shocking, heartbreaking, funny, sad...just read the series. These are not comics. These are not even typical graphic novels. Gaiman took the entire genre of comic books and remade it.
Here's something you might like:
Sandman Annotations
no subject
Date: 2004-02-20 01:36 pm (UTC)And you know, the part about the marriage in a church--I could sort of see why a CHURCH wouldn't want gay marriages. They do frown upon homosexuality in general, and I could see preachers, etc. being uncomfortable with marrying two men or two women "in the eyes of God" when they think it's wrong.
But dammit, people should have the right to marry whomever they want! I argued this point with my best friend last night...EVERY culture and EVERY religion practices marriage. It's a universal ceremony. Who writes the "rules" of marriage, then? The US? Do they have the RIGHT to make and break tradition-based rules as they see fit? Do they have the right to take ONE specific interpretation of the Bible and use it to back up a Christian-based law, when this is supposed to be the country of 'freedom of religion'?
ARG. I'll be printing your essay out and showing it to everyone I know. *grumbles about having to live here with them saying things like that* (the dad and the brother also uses the N* word...I HATE that)
Great job,
Vixy
no subject
Date: 2004-02-20 07:29 pm (UTC)As for the essay, I love it. I'm going to print it out for the GSA at my school; I hope you don't mind.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-20 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-24 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-24 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-27 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-22 01:22 pm (UTC)