Ive been with my partner now for two years. I see that word a lot in these posts when someone is refering to their other half…. partner.
It sounds so cold and calculated. My partner. Like I am in business or something. But there really isnt any other term I can use to discribe my relationship with my Joseph. “Boyfriend” to me is so fleeting and temporary. “roommate/friend” (which I use a lot because thats the only way I can talk about my other half being in the military) is so platonic and distant. So, Im stuck with the term “partner” I hate that. I would love to say, “My Husband Joe” but I cant because we are not legally married. I suppose I could call him that anyways, but it woud take all the sincerity and meaning out of the name “husband”. Think about the weight you put on someones relationship when they refer to their other half as their boy/girlfriend, as opposed to their husband/wife.
Husband and Wife is the ultimate name you give your ‘partner’ in life to show the world that this special someone of yours is the only one for you and that the two of you are permanently bonded together.
I read through all the posts and heard all the arguments for what was a “right” and the differnet types of “human rights” and what not. Could we not think about it this way…..
What category of “human rights” is the right to love another?
Should that not be a basic fundamental human right given to all of us?
Can you imagine a world where we were not allowed the right to Love?
In my oppinion, marraige in todays society is THE way of communicating to the world around them this fundamental “right” of theirs and they in turn are rewarded for it! Marraige is celebrated as the joining together of two lives. It is rewarded with all differnt kinds of privleges.
Taxes, wills, insurance, all different kinds of benifits. Your “husband” or “wife” has the final say over you if your a vegitable in the hospital. He/she is the benificiary of all your belongings when you die.
Society itself has given the “spouse” a lot of privleges and power if you think about it.
So being in a “life long relationship” and being in a “marraige” are related but entirely differnt if you think about it. I have many differnt “life long relationships” with my family and friends. Its actually being “married” to someone that sets apart that person from the rest of the “life long relationships” that I have.
So back to the question at hand, is gay marraige a right? Or a just a privilige? It HAS to be a fundamental right! Marraige isnt just some silly little cerimony that the gays feel they need to be afforded. There is so much more behind the “right” to marry.
I experienced this first hand when my “partner” and I bought a condo together. I could not believe the discrimination we faced. If we walked into a home as a gay couple we were met with a hostile attitude. If we walked into a place as business partners the situation was completly different. How eager the realitors and mortgage brokers were to help out that newly weded couple looking to buy thier first home, but two men? No way! The differnence? The newly wed’s were of course married! I could not count how many times I was told about all the benifits I could recieve if I was going into a mortgage and was married.
Here is another great example of the difference that married couples have over non married couples. I am in the military, when I was married, my wife was afforded every benifit that I had. If I was deployed on the other side of the world and something happened to her or in her family, I could go home on “emergency leave” no questions asked.
Right now I am on detatchment in El Salvador. If something were to happen to Joe, even if he was a girl, I would not be able to do anything. Why? Because he is not in my service record as a dependant or my spouse. Whats worse if they found out that my emergency was dealing with my MALE partner I would be kicked out of the military, no questions asked. Is that justice? Is that fair?
How can there be an argument that marraige is not a right? How do you define the term “right”? Isnt a “right” something that you are NOT allowed to be denied?
To me the majority of socities view on gay marraige is hypocritical. Almost anyone would say that I can not be discriminated against because of my sexual orientation. That I can not be denied employment or health benifits because Im gay. Why? Because they are my “rights”. How then is marraige any different?
A lot of people in society today, even some in the Christian community, are willing to accept the homosexual person, but mention marraige to them and the gays have gone to far! That gets so frustrating sometimes.
The bible defines marraige between a man and a woman yes, Ive read genisis, but it doesnt say any where that two men can not marry. If it does, somebody please show me. This is the only reason Christians today are so against gay marraige or gays in general. They are basing their belief on what they believe and interpret the bible to say about what it means to be gay in the first place.
I just do not understand how we can even argue about whether or not marraige is even a right, gay or straight. Ofcourse it is!
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