California bans same-sex marriage. That’s wrong.
Posted by Deborah Clark Ebel on November 7, 2008
On Tuesday, California voters voted to ban gay marriages in that state with 52 percent of the vote in favor of the ban. I’m disappointed.
As a child born and reared in the South, the first time I heard about same-sex relationships was when I heard the word “queer”. When I asked what that meant, usually no one would give me an answer. If an answer was given, the best answer any adult would come up with was that it meant, “boys who like boys and girls who like girls” and the subject would be quickly changed. There were often laughs when someone was called “queer” or, later, “gay”, which further confused me.
Sometime over the many decades since that time, I’ve come to look at the question of who should have a relationship with whom, and I have decided that it is simply none of my business.
It is not my right to be judgmental of anyone. It is not my right to be the determinant of who anyone is attracted to or involved with sexually or emotionally. It is not my right to look down on anyone for any reason—we are all equal in the eyes of God. And, it is certainly not my right to cause any person to be denied a loving relationship with the person he or she cares for.
It is not my right to do any of that.
Further, to deny a same-sex couple the benefits of joint property ownership or hospital visitation between partners or insurance benefits based on the fact that their relationship is based on love between partners of the same sex is wrong.
It is not my right to judge.
My thoughts and prayers and best wishes are with those who are involved in California’s unjust and inequitable action, and I hope soon the right of same-sex couples to marry will be restored.
