It may come as a shock to some who believe all Texans are Bible thumping, hate mongering, hypocrites but as a true CONSERVATIVE I am for Equality. Sadly too many mouthy, judgmental, hateful, nasty 'christians' claim that God gives them the power to hate, to be cruel, to be nasty.
I was raised a Southern Baptist. For those who may be a bit confused on what that is, let me give you a quick & dirty rundown. Southern Baptists don't drink, don't dance, don't gamble, don't do drugs, and are fine upstanding people. Southern Baptist women are meant to be quiet, pregnant, in the kitchen while the man takes the reins of everything. Well, that's what SOME Southern Baptists would like you to believe. It is incredibly far from the truth.
My Poppy was a deacon in our church. It was years before he would take the position as he drank beer regularly. My Mimi was anything but a quiet, subservient wife in the shadows. She was a lady about it, but she spoke her mind and stood her ground. You might never have expected to find cold hard steel in her veins, but under than cute little rolly polly exterior beat the heart of a lioness.
My aunt sat on the board until she was RUN OUT of that church by some of the aforementioned hateful, nasty 'christians'. She was legitimately elected to office by the members of that church and a few holier-than-thous decided to take it upon themselves to 'cleanse' the church of her. They claimed her being gay was morally wrong and God was against it, that Jesus condemned her for it. Thing is, Christ NEVER said anything about homosexuality. PERIOD. Nada! Not one single, solitary, RED word was EVER attributed to him.
These same holier-than-thous put into office, without election, a gay man that then cruised the church for young men to abuse. He was caught doing it many times but was always protected by those nasty 'christians', the vipers in the den so to speak. Don't think gay had anything to do with their hate - they used it as an excuse to punish those they wanted & reward those that kissed their asses. That is NOT in keeping with the message of Christ.
I was raised by true Christians. Those who said it was NOT their place to judge, not their right to deny others the same things they took for granted. People who would give you the shirt off their back, the sweat of their brow, the food from their plate. People who were learned, 5 generations of teachers & counting!, educated, worldly people who stood for what was right. There was no moral grey ground, there was right & there was wrong and there aren't enough of them left in my opinion.
As a product of these people I can not, WILL not stand idly by and watch my fellow Texans denied the very basic right of marrying someone they love. I'd like to take on quite a few of the most common arguments against equality - in all its forms.
Marriage has LONG predated Christianity, every Abrahamaic religion is a baby compared to the concept of marriage. Marriage was not "one man, one woman". Even today Islam, an Abrahamaic religion at its core, is NOT about "one man, one woman". Mormons, not Abrahamaic but still a commonly practiced religion, is NOT "one man, one woman". That argument will NOT hold water with anyone that has even a passing understanding of human history.
Marriage between consenting adults has been going on long before Christianity came to this land. Hundreds of tribes held same sex marriage as sacred, blessed by the Gods. Just because someone says that Jesus says its wrong doesn't mean it is. Nor does the claim that no one has ever done same sex marriage here make it so.
The government has no business deciding what consenting adults can, or can not, get married. The government only takes money to issue a marriage license. Since the government issues the money, and issues the license, at what point does someone who is 'gay' using make it illegal? How can a government both issue money claiming to represent the people while at the same time denying the people the ability to spend it equally as they see fit?
The Equal Protection clause clearly states that any marriage contracted in one state is valid in all others. Hence why my 16+ years of marriage have been valid in Colorado and Virginia even though I was married in Texas. What basic Constitutional understanding would allow someone to believe that the Equal Protection Clause applies only to heterosexuals?
Those that claim marriage is for the production of children, since when? In my own family I can pinpoint people who are married without children. Be it the male or female that is infertile, a conscious choice not to have children, or a medical condition preventing it their marriage is no less valid under the law. Bearing children is NOT and never has been the point of marriage.
The claims made that marriage can't be redefined. I beg to differ. Two hundred years ago my father would have had to PAY my husband land, crops, goods, or animals if not all the above, to marry me. In short, I would have been SOLD by my father to my husband. That is not marriage. That is a form of slavery. Thousands of years ago I would have had to have slaves to buy my marriage. Heaps of gold, spices, pricey materials, animals, property, land, slaves ... they were all required to purchase a groom. We don't do that any more, thus marriage has already been 're'defined.
One of the more ludicrous arguments is that if gays can marry, then homosexuality will spread. That one is so far beyond the reach of logic, but I shall try. Guns are legal, not everyone owns one. Cars are legal, not everyone owns one. Marriage is legal, not everyone marries. The sheer lunacy of saying that two consenting adults making a commitment will somehow make people gay is just beyond me.
There are those that say a gay marriage will cheapen their heterosexual marriage. My marriage is NOT under threat from gay people. There isn't some light in his loafers man hiding in a dark alley waiting to jump my husband & make him FABULOUS!!! If you're really that terrified that your marriage will end and your spouse will marry someone of the same sex, you've got much deeper issues in your life.
The most odious, to me, claims are from those quoting Leviticus. One can not claim Christianity & go Old Testament. Christ clearly stated he came to make a NEW covenant, thus negating the old one. He negated the dietary laws of Leviticus - bacon y'all, we're talking the loss of bacon if we go OT. The sheer number of supposed, self described 'christians' that flaunt every violation of Leviticus while claiming homosexuality is wrong boggles my mind! God said all sin is equal, thus eating bacon is on par with being gay if you want to actually see the Bible for what it says. Polyester clothing, shellfish, BACON, they're all wrong according to Leviticus. In my world, if BACON is wrong I don't want to be right!!
I think I hit on most of the big arguments against equality, but really they all boil down to one nasty, ugly truth. That some Americans believe they're legally better than others. That is in direct violation of our basic premiss of government. "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." The ability to LIVE, the LIBERTY to purse HAPPINESS. Not dependent upon color, religion, sexuality, hair style, height, age, weight, yada yada yada. Just the basic 3 rules of our entire form of government - LIFE, LIBERTY, pursuit of HAPPINESS. Gardening makes me HAPPY, doesn't mean I'm going to force you to garden! Mall shopping does NOT make me happy, but I'm not going to try to ban you from doing it if you enjoy it. Thus, no one who truly supports liberty, any basic student of logic, any true Christian, can possibly stand against equal rights. It is beyond odious to me that some even dare attempt to twist such basic, honest beliefs to fit their hate.
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