Homosexuality & Same-Sex Marriage

November 30, 2010

graciewacie:

If you didn’t know it before, you know it now: I am an advocate for same-sex marriage. I am also part of the Roman Catholic church. I’m fairly certain that you can see some problems there already.

I grew up pretty much breathing Catholicism. My parents are both Catholic; my mom and her side of the family are all strong Catholics, and my dad was converted from an atheist before he married her. So my mom in particular was the one that usually had the most influence on me when it came to teaching me about God, about the Bible, and so on and so forth. However, we never addressed what I like to call ‘taboo’ issues, which is probably why unlike other Christians who say they grew up being taught that homosexuality is a sin, I didn’t really think much of the issue at all. And I didn’t quite develop any kind of views on it until perhaps middle school…? I don’t really remember. My point here is, my support for same-sex marriage and my views on homosexuality was completely self-developed, based on my personal beliefs, which then mixed into my religious ones.

So let’s start with the religion part. According to the Catholic church, the state of homosexuality is NOT a sin. I agree; I believe that being gay is a biological condition, and therefore cannot be a sin if the thoughts or feelings that occur are unintentional, if not unwanted. No one chooses to be gay; no one chooses to be different from everybody else. No one chooses to be cruelly bullied and hurt everyday for being attracted to the same sex. No one chooses to feel depressed or to commit suicide because they can’t handle the difficulties of standing out. No one chooses to be judged. Did you hear that, misguided Christians? No one chooses to be judged.

Now, the issue turns into a grey area when it comes to marriage. Here, the Catholic church condemns it for several reasons. One of them is the idea of marriage—how the whole purpose of marriage is to procreate. The Catholic church condemns the acts of homosexuals, because that goes against this teaching. But I don’t really agree with this. I don’t see why two people who love each other cannot be with each other simply because they don’t have the right body parts that “fit,” if you know what I mean. If they were made that way, isn’t it cruel for fellow Christians to completely rip them apart for being who they are and for wanting to be with someone they love, just like any other straight person?

The last part of this issue is of course, separation of church and state. When this goes outside my views as a Catholic, it’s a whole separate issue. The fact that same-sex marriage even has to be “approved” is sickening. I mean, you’re treating homosexuals as some sort of second class citizens, like they need some sort of approval from the government in order to get married. I don’t understand things like Prop 8—what kind of arguments could they possibly be giving to go against gay marriage? I certainly can’t think of anything that wouldn’t violate a citizen’s CIVIL RIGHTS to be married to the person of their choice, regardless of sexual orientation.

To bring this little post to a close, I’ll end it on a personal level. Over the past years, I’ve had the fortune to meet and befriend several people with different sexual orientations than mine. At one point, I’ve had a friend come out to me as bisexual, and although at that time it was admittedly hard to accept because I’ve never had to confront the issue so personally, I evaluated my thinking and reaffirmed what I already knew: we are all different, yet we are the same. We may be different in appearance and sexual orientation, but at the end of the day, we are all human. We are all people. We cry the same tears, we share the same laughs, and we make the same mistakes.

My final point is, whether you are religious or not, read these words carefully and live by them. I could care less if you were against homosexuality or same-sex marriage. No one gave you the power to judge someone for being who they are; trust me, you’re not that awesome.

Thanks for being an ally! I have a lot of respect for you :] <3