what is the problem?

Everyone who reads this knows I live in Massachusetts. Also, everyone who reads this knows that this state is the only one in the country where same-sex marriages are legal. Do you know that in June, at the Constitutional Convention, the legislature will be voting to decide whether or not to put a question on the ballot asking people to vote on whether or not gay marriages should be legal? Some people think that's a good idea, because they think that the people should decide whether or not everyone deserves equal rights. It's not a good idea. It's a horrible idea. I don't know whether or not it would pass, of course, but the rights of a minority should never be decided by a vote of the majority. Duh.

ANYWAY.

Usually, I feel pretty safe here in good ol' MA. I feel, most of the time, that if people here feel that being in a same-sex relationship makes you a horrible person, or that being in a same-sex relationship = a major sin, they at least know to keep their big mouths shut. It's not a popular opinion. You can't go to work and tell your coworkers that you hate the gays here. It's not acceptable. The marriage thing is a little different, for some reason I can't quite understand. For some reason, people do think it's acceptable to say that they don't hate the gays, that they think we deserve some rights, but that they just think this whole marriage business is between a man and a woman. I don't know why. It makes no sense. But again, you are pretty safe here telling people you work with about your partner (instead of your roommate). We still have people shooting gay people in bars, as you may recall. But all in all, we've got it better than our friends in other parts of the country.

So today, I'm driving to work. In a lot of traffic, because it won't stop raining. A guy cuts in front of me in his (MA typical) old Volvo. But on his bumper are two stickers. Both start with a giant "not-equal" sign - you know, the = with a / through it. One says "Gay marriage and benefits are not RIGHTS." The other one says, "Never have been, Never will be."

This whole thing made me sad. Does he realize that he might as well have a bumper sticker on the car that says,"Clandestine, you are not as much of a human as I am, and I hate you."??? I know, he doesn't care. He thinks he's right.

What I don't understand is this - the only people who seem to give a hoo-hah about gay marriage are preaching about how it's not God's way. It's not Christian to let people get married if they are both of the same gender. "We don't hate you, we hate this sin." "It's a choice." "You can get married, you just have to marry a man (it doesn't matter if you're attracted to him or not)." Blablabla.

How Christian is it to put a bumper sticker on your car that tells people you hate them? Imagine how it would feel to a little child who has two moms or two dads. Imagine if you were one of those parents and your child was in the car. It is so hateful. It is so awful. It is just SO mean.

There is nothing Christian about forcing people to stay roomates when they live as spouses. There is nothing Christian about hating people just because you don't understand them. There is nothing Christian about interpreting one or two lines in the Bible a particular way, while overlooking other parts. There is nothing Christian about telling a child that their parents are not acceptable. There is nothing Christian about forcing your small-minded, idiotic, illogical view of life on me. And there is nothing Christian about spreading this hate around, letting it fester, until people think that killing us is acceptable. I'm sorry, but the two - fighting against gay rights and accepting violence against us - are interchangeable. Once you spread the word that someone is not fully human, you are telling maniacs that it is not as wrong to kill us.

Nevermind that there is such a thing, or used to be, as separation of church and state. But that's a whole other rant for a whole other day.

There is no reason why lgbt people have to put up with this!! We, as a group, aren't angry enough. We aren't outspoken enough. We aren't taking this seriously enough! We are not united enough! This is unacceptable, but for some reason, we let them tell us that we're not worthy of the same rights. We let ourselves believe that civil unions are acceptable, when they are not! We let ourselves believe that if the majority of people vote that we should not be able to marry, then, well, okay.

Maybe everyone needs to see this ridiculous, hateful bumper sticker so that we all can figure out, once and for all, that we deserve to be able to marry the person we love. We deserve to be treated like everyone else. Nobody has the right to tell us otherwise. ESPECIALLY maniacal, right-wing "Christians."