By Monique
I know I’m 72 hours late with this news, but so much happened on Friday and so little has been able to get written up. Last week was a long week for many reasons; forgive me.
Enough of my mea culpas—let’s get to the fact that MARRIAGE EQUALITY IS ALL OVER AMERICA! WHOOO! Thanks, SCOTUS!
I was trying to think of a fun way to discuss this news, such as relating it to fictional character couples that would now be able to get married in America (if they existed) or some fun themes for weddings or LGBT wedding-friendly places in the south. Those posts might still come, but Friday, when the news had just come out, I couldn’t really get any idea to form as a concrete post. So, I think the best thing to do might be to speak from the heart.
I had hoped I’d be able to say that I finally lived in a country that accepted everyone’s right to marriage. As a Christian, I find it disheartening that many of my fellow Christians do not acknowledge this right and instead couch it in religious debate. The dogma surrounding gay marriage largely doesn’t make sense to me, and I’m a person who took it upon myself in my preteen years to actually read the Bible in an effort to become much more effective in my faith.
I know the basic arguments against LGBT people and their desire for marriage. I won’t repeat them here, but I’m sure you know what they are (if not, you can easily look it up). However, the rule from the Bible that trumps all other rules, to me, is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That means we have to treat everyone with respect and offer them the same grace and opportunities we’d like to receive ourselves.
It’s one thing for Christians to judge others who don’t fit into what they deem as “morally right,” but it’s even more annoying when black Christians do this, or any Christian of color, really. I would think that Christians of color would be the most sensitive to adhering to this rule since it often hasn’t been afforded to us.
We’ve been mistreated and judged so much that it would seem like we wouldn’t want to pass on that judgement to someone else who is also viewed as a minority. Yet, there are many Christians of color who will quickly assert that their rights to freedom be upheld with arguments of anti-racism, but will deny a non-straight individual the same grace they want. A lot of Christians of color will be quick to say that the fight for civil rights for people of color isn’t the same as the fight for civil rights on the basis of sexual differences. But, in my opinion, it is. a civil rights fight is a civil rights fight, point blank.
Like many Americans, my sisters and I have friends who are part of the LGBT spectrum, and we want the best for them. Marriage equality is a part of that. Being able to get married is something I, a person on the “straight” end of the spectrum, take for granted. The pagentry of a wedding is, as I’ve told my family plenty of times, is something I don’t want. I’d rather opt for just getting a marriage license and be done with it. But how luxurious is it to be able to say that, to have a choice of how to get married, when until last Friday, so many Americans didn’t have that choice. If they wanted a big wedding or just a license, marriage was something that still remained a dream. I’m thankful that now, my fellow Americans now have the right to get married in whatever manner they choose.
I’m proud of America for doing the right thing. America has always had it within itself to do the right thing; it just takes forward-thinking people to propel the country forward.
Julian 