Choose Love

If you haven't heard, the Supreme Court is discussing some very important topics over the next few days.  Today, they've tackled Proposition 8.  Tomorrow, it will be DOMA.  Now, it's likely that we won't know anything right away.  Apparently, it could take until June for the decision to be made public.

I sat here this morning, watching my son play with his little tool kit.  Someday, down the road, I will be able to sit with him and tell him about this point in history when everything changed.  Because no matter how the Supreme Court rules, it will change things for all of us.

I want my son to grow up knowing love, not hate.

Here's the thing.  There is no reason that anyone who wants to get married shouldn't be able to.  Marriage licenses are issued by the government, and theoretically, the government shouldn't care that some religions find it offensive.

Really, if we followed the biblical marriage laws, divorce would be outlawed, guys would have multiple wives, and women would essentially be property.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I know that there are people who don't agree with me.  I know that there are people who are important to me who believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman.  It breaks my heart a little that there are people who still believe that.

Want to preserve the sanctity of marriage?  Outlaw divorce.  Outlaw 72-day marriages that are all about the glamour and hype.  Outlaw marriages of convenience.  Do these things happen with gay marriage?  Sure, absolutely...why?  Because even gay couples are human.

Of course, then there is the absurd argument that a gay couple can't possibly raise children in a safe and secure and happy home.  What a load of crap that is!  How many children do we have in the United States who would love to be adopted and have a loving home?  A child doesn't need a mother and a father in order to grow up to be a functional adult.  A child needs people who love it, who cherish it, who teach it right from wrong and who will go to the ends of the earth to ensure their child is happy and healthy and safe.

How many straight couples abuse their children, or ignore their children, or harm their children?  Again, I'm sure that there are gay couples that will do the same...but not any more than straight couples.

And then we have the, 'Gay couples can only raise gay children' argument.  Again, bullshit.

At the end of the day, why does it matter?  Why do Steve and Mary Smith CARE if Joe and Eric Jones get married?  How does it affect them at all?  Does it really make people feel better about themselves, and better about their lives, to hold others down?

Choose love.  Always.  Choose love.

Today, I changed my userpic on Facebook, and I shared every loving and affirming meme I could find.  My actions are small and insignificant, but I do what I can.  I send my support and my love and my prayers to the people who are telling their side of the story, and to the Supreme Court as they wade through a difficult decision.  Personally, I think it should be easy...but I know that it's hard for them, and I can understand why.

And I teach my son to love and not hate.

I think that's the most important thing that I can do.  To try to teach my children how to be better people, in hopes that by the time they are adults, this will be a thing of the past.