By: Alaina Gizzo
Posted In: Opinion
Photo credit: Kristopher Skinner/Contra Costa Times/MCT
Sue Dean-McGilpin, center right, consoles her wife Jayne Dean-McGilpin, center left, after reading the California Supreme Court’s announcement to uphold Proposition 8 in San Francisco, California, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
Now you see it. Now you don’t. Thanks to Proposition 8, in November of 2008 California’s LGBT residents witnessed a similar trick with their right to legally marry. Proposition 8, more commonly known among the LGBT community as “Proposition hate” revoked Californians’ right to same-sex marriages, which had only been passed in June of that year.
Proposition 8 is currently being challenged in court. My only question is “Why?” Why is this even an issue? Don’t support gay marriage? Then don’t get one. I particularly don’t understand why this creates such controversy in California. Divorce among opposite-sex couples seems more common than marriage does. The amount of divorce throughout the country remains at a steady 50 percent. At this rate, who is to define what marriage is or even deny couples of it? This would not be an issue if the federal government would recognize same-sex marriages.Civil unions, although reflective of some progress, still lack over a thousand rights that opposite-sex marriages yield. Even state specific gay marriage is not federally recognized. As one can imagine, this presents many issues. For example, if one spouse passes away, the other is not federally recognized as a spouse, and therefore cannot collect life insurance benefits to assist with funeral costs. We are supposed to be a country free from persecution; since that is the reason Puritan colonists originally fled England. Now, America is the nation that denies a basic right to its citizens. Same-sex marriage is already legal in the UK, so what are we waiting for America? This one step forward, two steps back method of treating same-sex marriage is simply not cutting it. Personally, I have been a member of the “straight but not narrow” segment of intelligent people in the world since perhaps middle school. In no scenario could I comprehend the same-sex marriage opponent point of view. These views are, on the whole, loosely founded, close-minded and unfair. Many opponents claim woman was made for man and vice versa according to the Bible. As a personal viewpoint, this notion could rule the lives of those who follow it. Judicially, the Bible is insignificant. We don’t use other religious texts to pass laws and amend constitutions, so why the Bible? We cannot let our personal religious views affect other Americans’ lives. Others claim that if gay couples are allowed legal marriages, they will then start families and raise children to be homosexual. My initial reaction-who cares? Secondary reaction-if you’re using that logic, how do heterosexual couples have homosexual children? Ignorant assumptions like this are insulting and lacking truth. The hatred of extreme anti-gay marriage activists in this country should not destroy the LGBT community’s ability to legally marry. Proposition 8 is only one display of outright unfairness to this community. Citizens should not have to battle for this basic right, after all it is the 21st century. Let’s wake up America.
