Fairness for Queerness!

Hello everyone, this is my interview with my very dear friend Louis. Like Abby mentioned with her interviewee I obviously knew which side of this policy Louis would agree with because he is homosexual. Louis opened my eyes to why it is truly important for gay marriage to be considered valid federally in this country. Many people think that fighting for gay marriage is just to appease homosexual men and women so they can choose who they love and love freely; it goes way beyond that. Louis made me realize that instead of placing obstacles in the path of gay couples; it seems that the smarter, more better alternative from a societal perspective would be to encourage monogamy and stability amongst relationships that is what the true sanctity of marriage is about.

I believe that gay marriage is a matter of injustice. To put it in context: imagine if tomorrow, Congress enacted a law denying African-Americans the right to raise children together in a legally protected relationship. Or if by act of law, Hispanic and Jewish couples who had lived together for years would no longer be permitted to file their tax returns together, be under their spouses’ health insurance, or legally share a house together. Don’t you think there would be civil OUTRAGE?  So, my question is why do we not feel this way about homosexual couples? Isn’t their struggle a matter of civic injustice?

-Lauren

Is this a problem you think is important?  Why/ Why not?

Of course this problem is important. As a gay male, I have struggled with my identity my whole life and it took me a long time to be comfortable with being who I am. Now that I have the courage to love freely, it hurts me knowing that my love will never be acknowledged or valued by our government. Gay marriage is at the forefront of the civil rights movement at this point in time and I hope that I will one day be recognized by the federal government and have the same rights regarding my relationship as everyone else.

Do you think others in our community this is an important problem? why/ why not?

Of course I think this is a problem, and it is something that I deal with every day. Thankfully my family, friends, and the people that I surround myself with are for gay marriage. The PROBLEM is that gay marriage opponents go on to conclude their points with these ‘end of the world’ visions of the moral decay of our nation. A lot of people believe that legalizing gay marriage would threaten the sanctity of the institution upon which our very society rests. But my point is that 50% of marriages in the United State leads to divorce, so shouldn’t we respect a person’s choice to marry freely and instead of pushing for man-woman marriage why can’t we push for a person taking upon themselves the true ‘sanctity’ of marriage and the responsibilities.

What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

Our government has allotted each state to decide to legally recognize gay marriage, however the federal government will not consider gay marriage as being valid.

 What are advantages of this policy?

There are SO MANY ADVANTAGES! If gay marriage is recognized legally by the federal government, I as a gay man will be granted the rights as every straight marriage which includes: The right to spousal benefits guaranteed to public employees, including health insurance, life insurance and disability payments, plus similar contractual benefits for private sector employees. I will also be granted Priority in being appointed guardian of an incapacitated spouse or in being recognized as acting for an incapacitated spouse in making health care decisions.

What are disadvantages of this policy?

 There are no disadvantages of this policy. The real problem is that conservatives are against gay marriage because they against gays, not because they care about the sanctity of marriage.

How might the policy be improved?

 This policy needs to amend rights to gays, and to also make us recognize gays legally. It also needs to make Americans believe that making gay marriage legal is not just for gays, it is for every race, every sex, and every person who has been discriminated against.

What disagreements, if any, about the policy exist in this community?

There are many disagreements concerning gay marriage, most of these are made by religious conservatives. I will try to explain briefly these issues that they have with ME.

1. Gay marriage promotes promiscuity: My thought is how ironic are gays being labeled promiscuous when we want our STABLE RELATIONSHIP to be considered valid.

2. Gay marriage corrupts morals and depletes the sanctity of marriage: So you are telling me that marrying someone that I have been with for over five years, have a stable and solid respectable relationship with, and I am madly in love with is considered corrupt; but Kim Kardashian’s 72 day marriage to a dude she barely knows is respectable and considered valid???? Why can’t we start accepting REAL relationships as valid and start being concerned with quickie Las Vegas style marriages that last for 2 days?

Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem?

Human Rights Campaign-www.hrc.org
Marriage Equality Project- www.marriageequality.org/meusa
Lambda Legal Defense & Education Network-www.lambdalegal.org