Have you ever wondered why someone doesn’t support same-sex couples being able to marry? They can quote you the bible all they want, but they know in the end it isn’t about religion and it isn’t about their marriage, and if it is then it’s something totally different that they need to figure out for themselves.
They don’t support marriage equality because they don’t understand that gays, lesbians, transgender, and bisexual people desire to have weddings, desire to love, desire to settle down, build a house and a family. That we are people who want to be happy and would love to walk down the aisle, or stand at the end of the aisle and watch the one we love vow to be ours forever. It’s not because they hate us, they just don’t understand that we have the same desires, that we are human beings, and that we have the capacity to love. I can’t generalize because not all want that, but not all straights want to get married or settle down either.
I mean, they see that there are books published, targeting gays, called “The Culture Of Desire,” or “The Joy of Gay Sex.” This makes them generalize without asking questions. They point fingers and call us perverts. I don’t think they take the time to realize that they have books that do the same thing. Do they know that there are also books out there, targeting gay, lesbians, transgender, and bisexuals that deal with marriage and commitment?
I don’t think anybody knows that I’ve dreamed of my wedding long before I started dating anyone. I remember being in my aunt’s wedding and from that day on I wanted one of my own. Maybe then it was because I thought I looked good in a little tux, (boy has that thought changed!) But seriously, I remember being able to see how happy my aunt was. I remember wondering what it must have felt like and when I would be able to feel that way.
I now dream of my wedding, but it looks a little different. I know who I’m going to marry, when I am allowed the right to do so. I know how our lives work together and how we’ve committed to each other. I know what that happiness feels like now.
To all the people out there who are not in support of same-sex marriage please ask yourself if it’s right to deny people the right to love, the right to share their life with another person. Imagine not being able to say goodbye to your significant other, if they were dying in a hospital. Imagine not being able to tell the world you loved this one other. Now ask yourself if you can rightly deny people, people you know, people you love, from experiencing all of that.
(image: Stefano Bolognini)