I was so hoping to be writing a completely different post this morning. But, unfortunately, once again voters have decided that they'd rather listen to Glenn Beck than their hearts.
Maine passed a law last spring that would have allowed gay people to get married, but a ballot referendum on Tuesday has erased that law from the books. Once again, like they did in California, the conservative group The National Organization for Marriage, spearheaded the opposition to the law and managed to convince people that gay people getting married would end the world as we know it.
This decision is especially painful for me, as my husband's entire family lives in Maine, including my brother-in-law and his partner of over 15 years. The first family function I attended was their commitment ceremony in 1997. While it was not a legal union, they are just as married in my eyes, as I am. I've watched a myriad of heterosexual couples fall apart in that time, while they are still going strong. But, according to our government, they are not worthy of the same rights I enjoy.
I just wish that before they step into the voting booth, people could put themselves in some one else's shoes. Imagine if your government told you that you couldn't be with the one you love, that your love wasn't real or equal in the eyes of the country. How hard would you fight to change it? How long would you allow yourself to be treated like a second-class citizen? What would *you* do?
I don't want to preach. I just want people to stop letting themselves be fooled. God doesn't hate anyone. Gay people marrying doesn't make anyone else less married. We are all equal. Someday, we'll live up to our own ideals. Until then, we'll just have to keep fighting.
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6 comments:
Heidi, I was also wanting to write a different post today. Even though I don't live there, I will someday in the, hopefully, not too distant future and my oldest daughter went to college there. I was hoping that Maine would make me proud (like CT does) in this. And it was close, close enough that maybe people will think about it. Or is that too much to hope for? Yeah, this is a hard one.
It’s just mind boggling how often people in this country say they are followers of an all-loving god and yet find every way possible to spread hate. As a former seminarian, I can say that I understood the message of Jesus to be that we should treat everyone who walks the earth as we would treat him, and sadly, most christians I have met can not claim to live up to that standard.
Just as they seem to follow only certain parts of the bible, while forgetting the beatitudes for instance, the only seem to follow parts of the constitution as well. To tell one group of people that they don’t deserve a right that is freely and easily granted to another group is fundamentally un-American, and one that we have worked for 140 plus years to eradicate.
Robin, I so desperately want to have hope. And, deep down I do. But, this whole thing just fired me up. But, in the end, I am always hopeful that we will do the right thing. Just like we have done before with women's rights and rights for people of color. I just wish it wasn't such an uphill battle for something that seems so simple. Everyone is equal. NO caveats. Thanks for reading and posting.
Testify, brother Greazy. ;)
You are so right. About it all. It's like I keep saying. It is not complicated. It is very simple. We are all equal. NO ifs, ands or buts. Anything less is unconstitutional. Look it up. Until we practice what we preach, I'll keep saying it.
Hear, hear.
They are such hypocrites. I do think there are Christians that live to that standards, but it's the most radical elements that make the most noise. I saw a bumper sticker back in the '80's: The moral majority is neither.
They're bullies and cowards, pretending to have the right to judge for others, when the law they supposedly follow clearly says "judge not, lest ye be judged."
Very sad news indeed.
I agree, Craig. There are those people who follow real Christian values, but these people are so far from Christian it's not even funny.
It is just such a shame, it really is.
Thanks for stopping by!
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