Appalling ...

"If society was convinced that people are indeed born gay, then many would also be convinced that there is a need to protect homosexuals by the government as a designated minority class, such as African-Americans or Native Americans. This would spark states to legalize same-sex marriages, and more preschool children would be taught that having two mommies and no daddy is just another kind of love."

Yep, I'm going there. If you're likely to be offended, you may want to stop reading. I was offended by seeing this today, and I'm choosing to vent about it. If you don't want to read it, don't. This is going to be a bit muddled because I'm really stinking angry right now. I would just type this out in MSWord and mull it over, clean it up a bit and post it later, but Facebook Notes won't let me copy/paste, and I'm not typing this twice.

It disturbs, disgusts and angers me that messages of hate are being spread by individuals who claim to be spreading "God's message of love and acceptance." My frustration with the paragraph above isn't even so much that a "Christian" wrote it, but that a human being would write that. What ever happened to the golden rule? You know, treat others how you would like to be treated?

Churches dump MILLIONS of dollars at anti-gay legislation. Can you imagine the good that could be done with that money if it were being spent on the betterment of society? Feed/shelter the homeless. Build a safe place for children to play. Fund the arts. Help families who are going through hard times.Why must that money be spent instead on banning gay marriage or gay adoption? Marriage, as we understand it in society, stems from religion. Last time I checked, the Constitution prohibited the making of laws based on religion.

What harm will honestly come from a child being raised in a home with two loving, caring parents who happen to have the same parts? Do you ever read the news? How many heterosexual couples are arrested or make the news every day because of child neglect, rape, molestation, etc? You're honestly going to tell me that a stable loving home with two parents of the same gender is a worse environment for those childen?

Legalizing gay marriage hurts no one, in fact there are 1,049 rights and benefits at the state and federal level that are denied to gay couples because they aren't "married", or if they are, that marriage isn't federally recognized. "But it will destory the sanctity of marriage!" Seriously? Have you seen the divorce rates lately for heterosexual couples? 1st marriages: 41-50%, 2nd marriages: 60-67%, 3rd marriages: 73-74%.

Gay people aren't trying to recruit your children, or turn the whole world gay. Homosexuals just want the same rights heterosexual couples have - no more, no less.

The 14th Amendment states: "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of the law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

That little word, "marriage", has so many other things attached to it that most people don't think about. Why is it ok to deny a homosexual couple from seeing their loved one in the hospital? or for being able to leave their partner the house they paid for together during their relationship? or being able to make health care decisions for their partner? or being able to collect their partner's benefits after one passes? There are countless stories out there of these very things happening, because the couple lived in a state where gay marriage wasn't recongized, or wasn't legal.

I worry that I have veered off topic into a rant about why gay marriage needs to be legalized, and for that I apologize. Significant strides are being made right now in California, and I can only hope that their forward momentum will continue and that it will end positively.

Some people reading this note may not support organized religion at all, and if you made it this far, thanks for listening. I just wish that all of the "Christians" out there worked on spreading the message of love and acceptance that they sure do talk alot about, but often seem not to follow.

... and now, to address the religious side of that argument, I'm going to quote a bit from a book that really articulates the message much more clearly that I would be able to right now.

Christians opposed to political and social equality for homosexuals do not always appeal to the moral injunctions of the Bible, claiming that the Scripture is very clear on the matter and citing versus that support their opinion. They accuse others of perverting and distorting texts contrary to their "clear" meaning. They do not, however, necessarily see quite as clear a meaning in biblical passages on economic conduct, the burdens of wealth, and the sin greed.

Nine Biblical citations are customarily invoked as relating to homosexuality. Four (Deuteronomy 23:17, I Kings 14:24, I Kings 22:46, and II Kings 23:7) simply forbi prostitution by men and women. Two other (Leviticus 18:19-23 and Leviticus 20:10-16) are part of what biblical scholars call the Holiness Code. The code explicitily bans homosexual acts. But it also prohibits eating raw meat, planting two different kinds of seed in the same field and wearing garments with two different kinds of yarn. Tattoos, adultery, and sexual intercourse during a woman's menstrual period are similarly outlawed.

There is no mention of homosexuality in the four Gospels of the New Testament. The moral teachings of Jesus are not concerned with the subject.

Three references from St. Paul are frequently cited (Romans 1:26-2:1, I Corinthians 6:9-11, and I Timothy 1:10). But St. Paul was concerned with homosexuality only because in Greco-Roman culture it represented a secular sensuality that was contratry to his Jewish-Christian spiritual idealism. He was against lust and sexuality in anyone, including heterosexuals. To say that homosexuality is bad because homosexuals are tempted to do morally doubtful things is to say that heterosexuality is bad because heterosexuals are likewise tempted. For St. Paul, anyone who puts his or her interest ahead of God's is condemened, a verdict that falls equally upon everyone.

And lest we forget Sodom and Gomorrah, recall that the story is not about sexual perversion and homosexual practice. it is about inhospitality, according to Luke 10:10-13, and failure to take care of the poor, according to Ezekial 16:49-50: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strenthen the hand of the poor and needy." To suggest that Sodom and Gomorrah is about homosexual sex is an analysis of about as much worth as suggesting that the story of Jonah and the whale is a treatise on fishing.

The same Bible that advocates of slavery used to protect their wicked self-interests is the Bible that inspired slaves to revolt and their liberators into action.

The same Bible that the predecessors of [the Reverend Jerry] Fallwell and [the Reverent Pat] Robertson used to keep white churches white is the source of the inspiration of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the social reformation of the 1960's.

The same Bible that antifeminists used to keep women silent in the churches is the Bible that preaches liberation to captives and says that in Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free.

And the same Bible which, on the basis of an archaic social code of ancient Israel and a tortured reading of Paul, is used to condem all homosexuals and homosexual behavior includes metaphors of redemption, renewal, inclusion and love- principles that invite homosexuals to accept their freedom and responsibility in Christ and demand that their fellow Christians accept them as well.
- from: Is It a Choice? Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions about Gay and Lesbian people.

Also, if this note has offended you because you hold a steadfast belief that gay marriage should not be legalized and that homosexuals are deserving of unequal rights, then that means you hold a steadfast belief that I should not be able to marry the person I love and that I do not deserve equal rights. If, for those reasons, you choose to "un-friend" me on facebook, so be it. It's been a pleasure reconnecting with you and sharing your life with you, and I wish you all the best.

To the unoffended, unaffected or otherwise uninterested: Thanks for reading. :)

To those that scrolled to the bottom looking for the Cliff Notes: Remember the Golden Rule - treat others how you wish to be treated. <3