I'll start this off by saying I was not raised in your average two-parent household where many controversial topics were considered taboo.
I was raised in a family where nothing was off limits and whenever I would develop my own opinion about something I was never told that I was 'right' or 'wrong' I was asked why I thought what I did.
I was asked to think.
From a very young age my mom took it upon herself to teach me to utilize my resources; develop my own opinions and passions. She encouraged me to learn, grow and evolve in my thinking.
I distinctly remember writing a paper about how horrific abortion is, regardless of circumstance, when I was in the sixth grade. I look back now and laugh because really, what 12 year old can fully develop an opinion about a woman's right to choose? At 12 years old I was not a woman and now, nearly 10 years later, my opinions have changed.
I've grown. I've evolved.
That's the funny thing about opinions though, while they may be yours, is that people are so quick to judge you based on them.
I was raised to be loving, accepting, understanding and free thinking.
Sadly what I've come to realize is that I'm naive to think that everyone in my generation was raised to be as open minded as I was.
I'm going to be really vulnerable here and say that there was a point in my life where I would consider myself moderately religious. I valued the stories and lessons I was taught, and at the time I really needed that in my life. As I grew older and began to understand some of the underlying messages, I took myself away from the situation. I made the choice that I no longer needed those explicit teachings in my life to be the loving, accepting, understanding and free thinking person I was raised to be and wanted to continue to be. For now I'll call myself spiritually curious and leave it at that.
When Facebook "turned red" in support of marriage equality yesterday I was amazed and disappointed at the amount of young people condemning marriage equality.
I refer to this social issue as marriage EQUALITY not just "gay marriage" because I believe that marriage is a fundamental human right not to be determined by whether you are gay or not. To me, marriage equality refers to any human being that is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or straight.
I was overwhelmed by the amount of disrespectful and ignorant Facebook statuses ranging from lengthy hateful rants to simple "not equal" signs. More than anything, it was disheartening to see so many young people crying out for the Supreme Court to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act. Young people who don't know they first thing about the ins and outs of marriage. Young people who have no idea what it's like to love someone so much it hurts only to have the government forbid you from marrying that person.
To say my blood was boiling as I sat at work trolling my Facebook feed would be a vast understatement.
It's boiling now if I'm being perfectly honest.
To see people writing "their sin is greater than mine will ever be" and "I don't want my kids to see two women holding hands and get confused" just absolutely blew my mind. Are you joking me? You should be GRATEFUL that your children may one day have the opportunity to live in a country more loving and accepting and evolved than the one we are currently in! You should be HOPEFUL that one day your child may have the opportunity to marry that one person that they can't imagine spending their life without regardless if they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender OR straight.
It's funny, Jason and I are on complete and total opposite ends of the political spectrum (it's a running joke in both of our families and has been the topic of many conversations, trust me) but one thing we agree on is social issues. That man may be one of the most conservative people I know, but he also has the biggest heart. We both know that our parents wanted a better world for us, and we so badly want that for our future children too. Part of a better world is a more understanding, loving and accepting society.
I have so much hope that one day politics will evolve, that our country will evolve, and realize that no power, religious or political, can control love. I posted something on Facebook today and was overwhelmed with the outpouring of support that I got, so I decided to share it here as well.
To anyone reading this regardless of your orientation or beliefs, I hope you find a love so strong you can't let it go. A love so strong you'll fight for it until you have no fight left, then you'll fight a little bit more. A love so strong you can't imagine life without it. At the end of the day, isn't that the only love worth having?
xoxo
