Call it internalized homophobia, but I had doubts about gay marriage some years back.
My thoughts were simple on the issue and pretty much centered around the thought of 'why rock the boat." Back then I thought that was a good answer. I would have also thought that the answer Miss California gave in the beauty pageant was her own beliefs and she shouldn't be chastised for them.
Granted everyone has the right to think or believe what they want, but as a friend commented, had she declared support for segregation, she would have, and should have expected the same amount of criticism.
Of course not rocking the boat is rarely a good excuse for preventing liberty. But way back when it may have been that my thoughts on gay marriage were formed pretty much the same way my thoughts on gays were. From public portrayal.
Gays were portrayed as fragile, or criminal or any number of other negatives. But when heterosexuals were portrayed in the same manner in movies or television I never defined the entire heterosexual community based upon those perceptions.
Sure there were straight murderers, but to think all straights were murderers was ridiculous. The same is true for any other negative portrayal.
As I ventured "out" I discovered as many diverse members of the gay community as in the non gay world. I was happy to make friends with couples who had been involved in their relationship for as many years as my parents. I made friends with a man who was the first gay man to run for local political office. I made friends with a woman who worked as a lawyer and one who worked for the city.
Basically, they were gay, and lived just as normal a life as anyone else on television or the movies who wasn't gay. I was young, but it was an eye opening experience for me. And to think that my prevailing thought, before this revelation, was that I was somehow the gay aberration. . That I somehow may be the only gay person who wasn't fragile or a criminal.
The reason I bring all this up is because the old saying of "we are everywhere" really is true. We are everywhere and we have been for a very, very long time. Being gay isn't a new thing. And we should be allowed the same rights and liberties granted others in our nation.
I came across an interesting website recently. It features a whole lot of different things. But one of the areas that really intrigued me was the photos of male couples from... well from about as long ago as there have been photos.
Whether every person in these pictures are gay is anyone's guess but it is safe to assume that at least some are.
We, in the United States, are guaranteed the right to pursue happiness. Until such time as I am treated as my fellow citizens and allowed to marry the person I love, I will not be able to attain my unalienable right granted to me by the Creator as set forth by our Declaration of Independence.
Thanks to GayTwoGether for posting some great photos. And reminding us all, love is eternal; regardless of who it is you love.
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