When I first heard about the gay marriages going on in
Portland, my first reaction was one of exuberation. I
clapped and yelled out, “way to go Portland!” Soon after, I
saw how others reacted to the news. I saw people holding
signs outside the courthouse building and they were
screaming at the folks in line for marriage licences. “You’re
going to burn in hell!”, “God hates gays!” and other
colorful hate messages were heard. All this has caused me
to stop and wonder why there is such a vast difference in
perceptions over the same event.
I sit in awe and watch these people spew hateful,
disgusting messages toward their fellow human beings. I
try desperately to understand why they are doing these
things, and still have a hard time wrapping my brain
around it. All hate is really fear based. People are easier to
control if you can just make them afraid enough. These
people are so wrapped up in their fear that they can’t see
straight (excuse the unintended pun!). We all know what
feeds this fear — religion. I get so tired of the endless Bible
quotes people are using to justify this vile behavior towards
the gay community. I find it interesting how they only seem
to want to follow the sections of the Bible that fit into their
life at the moment. I don’t see them stoning people for
working on Sunday!
I also find it amusing that the big reason I hear over and
over again for not allowing gay marriage is because, after
all, it would certainly lead to marriage with animals and
household appliances. You know, they tried this same sort
of logic when women were seeking the right to vote. They
claimed that if we let women vote, then we’d soon have to
let dogs and cats vote! Such nonsense only goes to show
their desperation to spread their fear to others.
Growing up I rarely heard anything about gays. I lived in
small-town white-bread America, where such things were
simply not talked about. I do recall that anytime my mother
referred to gays she would whisper the word “homosexual”
so quietly and hurriedly under her breath you
barely understood what she was saying. It was as if she
was terrified God would hear her talking about such sinful
things that he would cause her head to explode at any
second. Even at a young age I found her entire display
amusing and silly.
I often wonder how I became as liberal and freethinking as I
am. I must credit my dad for a great deal of my open
minded thinking. When he heard about the gay marriage
news he reacted much the same way I did. He’s always
tried to keep an open mind to things and treat other fairly. I
truly think this had a huge impact on me while I was
growing up. This only goes to show that parents really can
have a big impact on how their children turn out in the
end. An open-minded parent leads to an open-minded and
freethinking adult. So all you freethinking parents out
there take note of this and keep up the good work!
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Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2006 Angela C. Byers