Once again I'll preface this by saying this is MY opinion. I respect your right to believe what you believe and feel what you feel. This post below is simply my expression of the way I view the 'issue'. My intention is not to offend.
So here we go...
There is no issue more likely to throw the cat among the pigeons than gay marriage. Try throwing it into a conversation even with your closest gal-pals and watch the fireworks. Read the comments on any news website and I'm surprised they have enough buckets to clean up the bloody aftermath.
What is it about a man or woman wanting to legitimise their same-sex relationship that causes so much angst among heterosexual people? It's the most contentious issue of our modern world, with strong opinions both for and against, in the media on an almost daily basis. The President of the US says he is in favour, but is powerless to enact real change as it's a 'state' issue. Our Prime Minister believes marriage is between a man and a woman (however is a self proclaimed atheist who clearly has no issue with pre-marital sex, so she's really splitting hairs there). One vocal anti same-sex marriage politician in the US has had the issue hit very close to home with his daughter marrying her girlfriend yesterday in one of the 8 states (out of 50!) in America that have legalised gay marriage.
Opinions range from 'blasphemous against God' to 'equality for all' through to the most mystifying in my opinion: 'this is a minority issue that doesn't affect me so I wish they'd shut up about it already'.
Good thing the suffragettes fighting for the right to vote 100 years ago didn't just 'give up and go away', right?
What staggers me most is the hypocrisy.
Take Ellen Degeneres.
Ellen is openly gay and has enjoyed a loving union with wife Portia for far longer than the average marriage. More than 2 million people watch Ellen's show every day. Every. Single. Day. And the number keeps growing. Yet Ellen's demographic (29 to 54 year olds) are the least likely to be in favour of same-sex marriage, according to polls.
Pardon me for my cynicism, but how does that make sense? You're happy to watch a gay woman on television but it's not OK for her to marry the love of her life?
I also found it really interesting that when googling stats on gay marriage I found out that Massachusetts was the first state to legalise same-sex marriage in 2004, and since then it is the only state where divorce rates have actually DECLINED. It holds the lowest divorce rate in the country.
Coincidence?
So as of May 2012 a whopping 10 out of 194 countries have now legalised same-sex marriage. I guess it's progress, but clearly the 'issue' is nowhere near resolved.
I think the main problem here is that they've taken something that's very human and turned it into a political stance. Love is not political, love is love. And marriage, I'm sorry to tell you, is a man-made arrangement, and therefore is something that can be altered if the existing definition does not fit our modern world. Heaven knows what our lives would be like if archaic laws hadn't been adapted and modified since the middle ages, I'm sure Henry the VIII would have beheaded me on the spot.
So to me the answer is pretty damned simple.
Equality for all means just that - equality. Same rights for everyone regardless of religion, background, colour, race or sexuality. Those of us who are heterosexual can't just sit back and wish the issue would just go away, because it won't. That it doesn't affect us, because it does. We need to recognise that it is also our responsibility to rally OUR support for equality.
God knows love is hard enough to find. I've been looking for 39 years and haven't found it yet. So more power to those who are lucky enough to have found their mate. Everyone should have the right to stand up in public and commit themselves to that person should they wish to do so. And I'll be standing alongside applauding and wishing them every happiness in the world.
And secretly hoping to catch the bouquet and that there's a cute best man.
xx
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