Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I do not want to, nor have I ever wanted, to get married. I have always considered not having to get married one of the benefits of being born gay. I don't want the responsibility of a home full of screaming children, plus the responsibility of a spouse. I have cats that scream just fine, and I don't have to put them through college. Obviously, if you have been paying attention to the news, not all gay people think the way I do. Some of these poor saps think it would be a fine state of affairs for them to be tied down, for life, with one single person. Of course the truth is that over fifty percent of married couples don't stay together for life, and in the end one of them pays through the nose for the mistake of marriage.
It has been thirty years since I last went to a protest march. It was in 1977 that I joined hundreds of people marching in Chicago, to protest the queen of homophobia, Anita Bryant. Anita was a pop singer from the 1950's, whose career was on the downswing. In 1977 she decided that she didn't want any gays in the Miami school system and she supported a law that would overturn an anti-discrimination ordinance. Her campaign was a success.
Thirty years later, we have come a long way. We have strived to obtain the rights equal to those that a white, heterosexual, male, takes for granted, and in many ways we have succeeded. Now many gay couples want to have another right that heterosexuals have. The right, with the stroke of a city officials pen, to combine all their assets, and to be responsible for each others welfare. The right to keep their joint property, upon the death of the spouse. In other words, gays want to get married. As much as I am against the prospect of marriage for me, who am I to deny others the experience if that's what they want. If some dumb-ass wants to jump off a bridge with only a bungee cord between them and death, who am I to say no.
So that's what Mark and I were doing this past Saturday. We were marching around the Fort Lauderdale city hall, protesting the passage of proposition 2 here in Florida. A proposition that basically said, "I am a miserable bastard, and I want to deny you the right to be happy. You can't be married.". The truth is, if they really wanted to be hateful and make gays miserable, they would let them get married. Then pass a law that made divorce illegal.
I agree with you. I too have never felt any urge or desire to be married to another man. I do however, think that we should have the same legal right to get married if we choose to do so. That's the bottom line. EQUAL Rights.
ReplyDeleteI could never understand why anyone, including gays and lesbians would want to have children. Sure they are one of lifes joys, but the fiscal responsiblity is enormous. Sending them to college is worse. I have a cousin who has worked all his life to support his house, family, and putting three children though college. He is close to retirement now and has not really had a life of his own. Life has past him by. To me, life isn't having ones nose to the grindstone 24/7. There is much more to life than that.
ReplyDeleteI am currently experimentally and voluntarily living below the poverty level with others. What I am discovering is an underclass of people that are happy and content with their social positions. I have been accepted as one of them. Most don't even have high school educations but are happy none the less.
So it leads me to believe that there is more to life than trying to get stay ahead of the Joneses. Many of the socio-economically depraved never bother with marriage, but still have children and live together as couples.
So I believe that we don't need the government to secure our right to marry whoever we want. It is a God-Given right. I say *&#! the system and their licenses, fees, and regulations on marriage.
And *#%! the bible thumper's too who say gays can't marry.
If I want to leave all my assets to my lover when I died or have the same rights as hetrosexual couples I will do it on my terms, not the freaken governments or anyone elses.
Well Spoken Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI agree too, I have not always felt the same though, I used to think that it was a sweet thing between two people but as I grew up, it seemed more and more like it was just a rule over each other, some kind of hidden power excursion over each other- henceforth the constant fight and inevitable break up.
ReplyDeleteNo point in wasting money- rather spend it on munchies or some thing :D
As we grew up, marriage was the goal of most red-blooded young women. They started planning their wedding with Barbie the Bride doll and never looked beyond that special day. As a teenager, I realized that I would have to support myself since I couldn't imagine myself married. So I needed a career and nursing was the perfect fit for me. But I also met someone who (at 21 and 22) was the "one for me". It has been 38 years, ups and downs, joy and sorrow, but it has been right for us. Kids completed the picture, I always wanted to be a mom, and now they are wonderful adults who we like to be around. I have gay friends and straight friends who all should have the right to choose their best path and not be penalized for lifestyle. I respect those who know that kids are not for them...they would all only suffer if they followed the crowd. It just amazes me that Americans feel that they have the "right" to discriminate.
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