A:

I’m sorry to be losing a faceless gray head.  -shrugs-  I’m not offended in the least, just a little disappointed that you read one bullet point on my “About Me” and decided it wasn’t worth your while.  It seems a little silly and close-minded to base an opinion off a single statement; perhaps you should have convinced me to see the error in my ways with a thought-out message with proper grammar.

However, I would like to personally state I see no reason for social issues that don’t affect the whole to be brought into politics.  Marriage is a very touchy subject, but let me simplify it for you.  As a good upstanding citizen who pays her taxes, works full-time, balances her checkbook, and does her best to improve the world around her, I’ve been taught to respect people who also do the same - work hard, preach good values and morals, try to contribute in any way they can.  I’ve also been taught that I am to respect others and treat others in good grace unless they are harming me or others in some way.  As a teacher, I try to teach my students to understand that other people are different and that you may not always agree with them, but they are still a person and you have to be polite to them unless they are causing you harm in some way.  How can I say that to a student and then blatantly discriminate against a group of people based solely off the sex of the person they love?  

We should be encouraging people to love and commit to each other; not to tear them down, discourage them, spread hate and anger, and basically become a big hypocrite.  Are gay people hurting me in any way by allowing them to get married?  Would it not be better for us to show our children stable families as opposed to broken homes?  Should we force our children to grow up lying to themselves, destroying their self-esteem, encouraging bullying and harassment and suicide?  Should I simply discard a person as useless and immoral because of one simple fact - a fact that they have no control over - instead of getting to know them, their upbringing, their morals and values?  Should I blindly insult someone off without rhyme or reason?

Should I not support gay marriage simply because of religious reasons?  But wait, are we not a country that supports and stands by religious freedom and the separation of church and state.  I have no idea what religion they may be, if they even follow a religion, so no, that can’t quite be it.

Is it because of morals?  Who ever said these people were immoral beings?  How can you judge someone’s morals and values based off the person they fell in love with?  The ability to distinguish between right and wrong isn’t connected in any way to who you chose to spend the rest of your life with.   Have you seen them commit a crime?  Have you seen them chose wrong over right frequently?

Is it because they’re causing harm to the nation?  If they’re paying their taxes, contributing to the economy and society, raising a happy and healthy family, respecting the people around them, then who I am to tell them what they do behind closed doors.  (Putting aside that I’m sure there are “bad” gays out there as much as there are “bad” straights out there…”bad” people exist).  So, nope, can’t quite be that.

It sounds to me that we are infringing upon people’s personal freedom by telling them who they can and cannot love.

Again, I don’t see what’s wrong with gay marriage in the sense that it is not harming anyone who isn’t consensually involved.  Religiously, if they want to damn themselves to Hell, there’s only so much I can do to stop them.  Morally, one of the most upstanding, caring women I know is a lesbian and I wish her every happiness.  If it’s not harming society, people around them, or the economy, why should we even be considering it?

As for freeing up this name, sorry to say that I have it on lockdown and don’t follow blindly to what people tell me to do.  I don’t go down without a fight, especially over a singular non-issue in my mind.