What comes to mind when you hear the word marriage? Love, commitment, family, all are words typically associated with the concept of joining in union with the person who makes your world go ’round. Some choose to have a big, lavish wedding with all the bells and whistles while others, like my parents, get it done at the local court house.
Either way, you get a little piece of paper signifying your union through the state in which you live and the many rights and benefits that come with it.
There was a period of time when people only married within their social circles, based upon their rank and wealth in society. The poor married the poor and the rich married the rich. There was a period of time when people could only legally marry within their own ethnicity. Whites married whites and blacks married blacks.
We are now in a period of time when men who love men and women who love women cannot legally marry in most states. Like those other times before, society deemed it unacceptable based on their higher morality that masked their own bigotry. Let us be reminded of the Golden Rule: Due unto others as you would have done unto you.
If you have been so blessed as to have someone in your life to love, turn to that person. Look deep into their eyes and gaze a bit. In that moment, all that matters is your love; the love you share with that particular person. You aren’t thinking about society or religion or what your neighbors think. At that moment ask yourself; would you like to be denied the opportunity to legally signify your love for that special person just because of how other people thought about it or what the government tells you is right or wrong?
The problem is people lose sight about what the debate over marriage equality is all about: Love. It is as simple as that. It isn’t about changing a definition, approving of a certain lifestyle, or teaching something in a classroom. It comes down to the love between two people. If you want your love called marriage, why should you then turn around and deny someone you don’t even know the same opportunity?
When interracial marriage was outlawed, there were many people who didn’t understand why you would want to be with and marry outside your race, just like now there are many people who don’t understand why you would want to be with or marry someone of the same sex. While the concept might be packaged differently, the root issue of discrimination still lingers, though this time in a cloud of religion rather than racism.
The minute I hear someone interject religious beliefs into a discussion about marriage, I get confused. There is a reason why there isn’t a religious prerequisite to get hitched, and your designated religion does not appear on your marriage license. We were all taught in school that there is a separation between church and state. Are we now cherry-picking bits and pieces of the U.S. Constitution?
Marriage is a legal contract through the state. If you don’t want it to be that way, laws need to be changed. It is against our constitution for a state to deny a certain group of people rights, including marriage. A hypothetical example would be if a state denied all women from getting a public education just because they are women. Marriage is a state social service and therefore should be treated as such.
The final outcome of the defeat of Maine marriage equality back in the 2009 election cycle was 53-49. Remember your loved one and how you would want to be treated when this issue pops up in conversation or in the voting booth in the near future.
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