Marriage Protection Act?
My marriage doesn’t need protecting.

I’ve read the newspaper for as long as I can remember, though I didn’t always know what all of the words meant. When I was around six years old, I read an article about discrimination against homosexuals in the Detroit Free Press. I didn’t know what homosexual meant, so I asked my mother. Looking back, I realize it was a challenge for her to come up with a definition I could understand with absolutely no warning, but I have to give her credit. She did a pretty good job. She said “that’s when two women or two men want to get married, like a man and a woman.” Oh, ok. Well, I couldn’t understand why anyone would have a problem with that. If two people want to get married, why should anyone want to stop them?

As I grew older, I realized my mother’s definition wasn’t exactly technically accurate. She had used marriage as a euphemism for sex since she wasn’t ready to discuss sex with me. I realized that not all gays and lesbians wanted to get married. But some did. And I didn’t think it was right that they weren’t legally allowed to. If two people love each other and want to get married, they should be able to get married. That’s simple enough.

I think a lot of progress has been made. Being gay or lesbian is no longer something to hide. A lot of companies offer benefits for same sex partners now. The US Supreme Court recently ruled that anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional. Canada has legalized gay marriage.

Of course, the right wing is in an uproar. Conservative politicians are falling over themselves to introduce Marriage Protection Acts. What exactly are they trying to protect marriage from? Do they think marriage is an exclusive club, and that if homosexuals are allowed to marry, then heterosexuals won’t want to anymore? Um...I’m not buying it. Do they think once gays and lesbians can marry, straight people won’t be allowed to anymore? That just doesn’t even make any sense. Do they think that only a given number of marriages are allowed, so once homosexuals start getting married, fewer marriages will be available for heterosexuals? That’s preposterous. So what, pray tell, is the purpose of a Marriage Protection Act? I’ve been married since 1990. My marriage doesn’t need protecting. My marriage is not made stronger by denying another couple the right to marry.

I honestly can’t understand why the right wing isn’t falling over themselves to encourage homosexuals to marry, since they’re always going on about family values. What could be more about family values than getting married? Here is the perfect chance to encourage people to form a stable family unit and to discourage promiscuity. Two people want to declare to the world that they love each other and want to stay together and remain faithful to each other for the rest of their lives. The right wing should be leaping for joy. What is their problem? I suspect they just have a problem with anyone being homosexual in the first place. Ok, you right wing homophobes, listen to me. You’re just being mean. Your denying gays and lesbians the right to marry isn’t going to make them stop being homosexual. You’re not going to make them be straight and go marry other straight people like you think they “should.” All that’s happening is you’re denying them their rights, and in the process, you’re exposing yourselves as the mean-spirited, hateful, mean little bigots that you really are. Quit it. Grow up already.