People often want to assume that my human profile, like others, should auto-check all the boxes in a column pre-determined by my geographical location, religion and political affiliation (in my case: southern, Christian, conservative). Just like the Berkeley student who works as a barista when not working on her women’s studies thesis, or the 45-year-old factory worker who would die for the Red Sox to win the world series (literally, die), or the 60-year-old politician who has spent more time with other politicians than the public he serves, I am stereotyped.
Once we’re all labeled, there aren’t just certain habits and lifestyle choices that are expected of us. There are ideals, beliefs and values that are expected of us as well. If you think this way about the people in your life, I feel sorry for you. To look at a world in categories of black and white must be extremely depressing.
I’ve always been bothered when I hear of/see people playing Hogwarts Sorting Hat, but the reason I am writing about it now is, well to be frank, in reaction to a celeb-LGBT story that broke over the weekend. (Note: I don’t care much for pop news and honestly couldn’t keep up with celebrity gossip if I tried, so for all I know this story is outdated). Regardless, I feel the desire to offer my two cents to the blogosphere, whether anyone picks it up or not.
As I previously mentioned, my political views would equate to ‘conservative.’ I am a voting republican who supports the child’s right to life, freedom of speech, the right to carry and free-market capitalism. I think females who don’t want to get pregnant should split the cost of contraception with their sexual partners or practice abstinence.
Here’s the box-breaker: If the vote came to Georgia to legalize gay marriage for our state, I would vote yes. Before you start preaching, I understand “that in The Bible, God said…” Yes. I get that. I grew up Church of Christ for goodness sake. But I also grew up learning about how Christ treated others, and how we should treat others the same way. We were ALL created in His likeness, right?
The other night I overheard a small group of women, at church, speaking of a homosexual love scene that was on broadcast television. “These two men were making out, in the middle of daytime television! What is this world coming to?” I wanted to (should have) walked right up to them and say: “Seriously, what is it coming to?! Christians are throwing stones as if they are without sin, knowing full and well that NONE OF US deserve the blood that Jesus spilt on the cross. Christians are outcasting their brothers and sisters, trying to hoard salvation for themselves. Disciples of Christ have forgotten that God is Love! We are all truly lost if God’s own messengers are spending more time condemning than sharing the gospel.”
A point of reference: One evening several years ago, a male friend and I went to get pizza after a long day at work. Over cheese and pepperoni, he told me stories of multiple suicide attempts. A couple were the result of bullying, but most instances occurred because he couldn’t live with himself. This was hard for me to believe at first. I know that this person is a truly kind and also quite charismatic. He is vibrant and humorous, but also generous and sincere. He puts a smile on every face and will listen to any troubled heart. But, for some reason, he thought that he was despicable, that something was wrong with his core being. He was not attracted to females, but instead was falling for members of the same sex. He couldn’t figure out how to change, how to be like everyone else around him. That is why he tried to take his own life. Whoever gave him that idea: Please lend me your face so I can kick your teeth into your brain.
Why would this southern, conservative, church-goin’ gal say such a thing? “It’s our generation.” I mean, that’s usually the excuse, right? People say our generation is leading this country straight to hell with all of our sexual promiscuity and drug legalizing. (Note: If you think that God is going to care what country you came from when he writes his Heaven acceptance letters, good luck!)
My generation is the most charitable and actively volunteering generation yet. We travel the world to take care of our brothers and sisters. We prefer to actually re-build houses that were destroyed in natural disasters instead of throwing food stamps at the able-yet-unemployed. We realize that there is more to this world than entitled America. We want to provide aid for the people of this world who need it the most. We know that a soccer team full of sweepers won’t score many goals and a company with only salesmen won’t produce high quality products. We see strength in our differences. The idea to tell someone that they can’t marry who they love, just because it isn’t who we would love, is obscure. In fact, it reminds us of pre-determined weddings when empires were forming alliances and marriage for love was few and far between. For my generation, gay marriage is a non-issue. The fact that it’s even up for debate is ridiculous. I don’t want to government taking away my means to protect my home or claiming my healthcare deductible, so why would it be OK for the government to regulate who you can and can’t spend the rest of your life with?
Whoever you choose to marry does not affect me in any way, shape or form. You’re not using my tax dollars to fund your entitlement. You’re not removing the pledge of allegiance from schools and you aren’t trampling on my freedom to express my religion. You’re not treading on me, so I won’t tread on you.
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