Gay Marriage

Gay marriage. What's the big deal? A couple years ago I went to a dinner party for a friend who was moving out of state. It was hosted by a couple of gay men.  Aside from the impeccably clean and well-decorated house and the heavenly food, what I really enjoyed that night was the obviously deep love they felt for each other.  I have always loved seeing people in love.

    Something was said that night that really made me think and has stuck with me.  One of the guys said he was sick of hearing about the "gay lifestyle".  What is that anyway?  To paraphrase, he said: we go to work, go to the gym, spend time with our kids, sometimes we go to the movies or have people over for dinner.  What we do in the bedroom might be different but there are hetero- couples out there who do things that are much kinkier than what the average gay couple is doing and the bottom line is who cares?

    Well, that's what I'm pissed off about.  The only people who care are people whose religious beliefs state that gay relationships are wrong. So- when are we going to be told we can no longer eat pork? It's that crazy! And what makes me even angrier is that this issue is being used to manipulate voters and detract our attention from other shady things our politicians are doing.  They know that, just like with abortion, people will get heated about this topic. We need to pay closer attention.

     Is anyone so against gay marriage that they'd rather rail on about that than stop our government from allowing GMOs in our food?  Is anyone so against gay marriage that they would place that as a priority above how we care for our environment? Sadly, that seems to be the case.

    When you think about it, the whole thing is just silly.  It was the first thing that made me question government.  What does government have to do with it? Why would we work to cause problems for people who just want to be in love?  Why would anyone try to hold others to their own beliefs?  Why do we care what others are doing?

     I would like to think we're better than this.  We need to be better than this.  We should be thinking about what we will allow our government to do, not what they should or shouldn't allow citizens to do.  We're constantly losing ground, letting our freedoms slip away.  If we don't start standing up for one another, regardless of our differing beliefs, we're going to end up where we're heading and that's not a pretty picture.

    I am concerned about gay marriage.  I have to be because I know that when you deny freedom to ANY person or group, we all have less freedom.  When you strip someone of their rights because of race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other inherent thing they are, we all have fewer rights.  I have to support gay marriage because I love love.  I want all the people I know to be able to express their love and live in whatever way they feel is right.

    I want Americans to wake up and realize that what you do to others, you're doing to yourself.  Stop being sheep, stop judging and being hateful.  If you are strong in your belief, the actions of others can not harm that.  We have to move beyond tolerance into acceptance, of others and of ourselves.  We have to realize that we're all we have.  We're all on this little rock together and there are things happening that threaten our survival.  Two men or two women loving one another threatens nothing. They simply add to our strength by supporting one another and being themselves.  We all need to be our own weird, different, unique selves to see the gifts we have to offer.

    Please, pay attention, stop watching Fox news, do your best to think, act, and speak from a place of love, be creative and helpful, question what you're told, question what you've been brought up to believe, be the grace that you were put here to be.  We are all responsible for what happens in our time. Can you work toward leaving behind a legacy of love?

I Have a Friend

I have a friend who loves a woman
which may seem strange to some because
my friend is also a woman
but to me it only seems beautiful
it seems right
Because the woman she loves  loves her too
My friend has never said to me,
"I love this woman."
and they've never said,
"I love you."
in front of me          but I know
It's plain to see when they're together
that something bigger than the both of them
exists between these two
I can't help but feel warm, hopeful when I see that
It makes me want to dance.

because I see so many women who
don't really love the men they love
I'm not sure they even like them, actually
I do see men and women in love - happy couples are out there
They're just few and endangered    and I'm not sure what by
It's not deforestation or pollution that makes them scarce
It think, perhaps, it's the pace at which we push our lives
marriage is something that just happens
   -after college
   -after high-school
   -hopefully before kids
   -usually when people are too young to know themselves well enough to know their partner
                                        too young to ask the questions that will plague them in 10 years
Like:
-is he right for me?
-might there have been someone more suited to me?
-am I happy?
Questions that become meaningless   or destructive
between breakfast dishes and bag-lunches
between pig-tails and little league
where moms sit in the stands in a daze
wondering exactly how all their days
added up to this

I have a friend who likes men
which may seem strange to some
because my friend is a man
but to me it seems good, it seems right
because I saw the Hell he had to wade through
to admit (even to himself) what love looked like
inside him
He broke through barriers I couldn't have cracked,
toppled them to get to himself
and now he shines like a star
healthier, happier, more whole than I'd known he could be
His deepest desire (like all of our deepest desires)
is to find the right one
that partner, the companion that's right for him
I know this will happen, he'll find his one
because my friend is filled -all the way- with love
and on that day, I'll dance.