Why Fight For the Right To Marry Campaign?

[Freespirited]

Hello friends I like your personal opinion about this question (that I as a Certified Court Interpreter and soon to be Court Deputy) have been asking myself for the past couple of months since in my own state of New Jersey it was "sort of " approved for gay couples to at least enjoy most of the marriage benefits that heterosexual couples have in my home state of New Jersey!

Unfortunately to my dissapointment my court have only gotten married "TWO" lesbian couples, and till this day "NO" gay male couples have even shown interest in getting married! keeping in mind that I live in a very opened and gay friendly county with a population of over 500,000! this have gotten me to believe that all the efforts our gay community and even the campaign that SOULFORCE is so involved in is in my opinion just a political campaign for human right, which at the very least the gay community as a whole haven't shown any interest at all!

What is your personal opinion about this "RIGHT TO MARRY CAMPAIGN"?


Leandro

[Steven E. Webster]

Leandro,

Maybe gay people aren't interested in being "sort of" married. I can't cite the article, but I read somewhere that there is much more interest in Massachusettes in marriage where gay people can get the "real thing," not "marriage lite" like in New Jersey.

There has been alot of publicity about the inferiority of New Jersey's "Civil Union" or whatever they call it. Why should gay people submit to something that is inferior?

Steven Webster

[jhager]

Following the landmark supreme court decision Brown vs. Board of Education, Justice Earl Warren wrote that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." He made this decision not because the black schools in Topeka, KS were poorly maintained or had less educated teachers, in fact by all accounts, Black schools in Topeka were in some instances better than their white counter parts. Instead, Justice Warren based his decision on the idea, the implied meaning of forcing one group of people to remain separate from another. The implied meaning is simply that even though we are going to treat you as equal under the law, we all know that you must remain separate so as not to defile, or infect, or be in contact with those of us who are clearly superior.

This ideal holds true in all aspects of separation of one human from another based upon race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, etc. Our goal should be to create unity among all people, not simply equality in a legal sense, although legal equality is the first step.

New Jersey unfortunately like so many other states hasn't realized yet the purpose and goals of the LGBT Rights movement, it is not to simply have someone say, "You are human" it is to be treated as human as a full and equal and valued member of a society. New Jerseys law which comes close to equality does not treat us as human, instead it stands as a constant reminder that in the eyes of the lawmakers and general public LGBT people are only, "close to being people" Its an insult on its basis. At least two years ago, the state was honest about the way it felt about LGBT people, now nothing has changed except that suddenly New Jersey lawmakers and citizens feel comfortable about lying to our face about the way they feel.

I'm sorry if this response sounds harsh but I hope it has provided some insight into why an LGBT person would feel even more insulted by the NJ civil union law now than they did about having no rights just a few years ago.

Please feel free to stay in touch, I love making new friends and building the community of unity I so strongly believe in.

-Justin Hager

[jhager]

hey, I just re-read your post and realized that I really didn't answer your question,

My personal feelings on the right to marry campaign are that I support it fully. I actually had hoped to be a part of it until my summer work prevented that from happening.

The Right to Marry Campaign continues the Soulforce legacy of changing more than just laws, but instead trying to change hearts and minds. That is where we must remain focused, as I talked at length about in my last posting, it's not just about law, its about the belief and feelings of a society. This is why PFLAG parents are so vital to our efforts.

The Right to Marry campaign hopes not just to use political pressure to obtain legal rights, but instead hopes to talk on personal level to NY Lawmakers and Citizens about why this legislation is so important.

goodluck and stay in touch and God bless the Marriage Riders

-Justin Hager

[pnggrad79]

Just because they have the choice to get married doesn't necessarily mean it is right for every gay/lesbian couple to do so. The freedom to marry should not be an instigator for every gay/lesbian couple to get married. It is simply that they can, not that they will. Relax! They will, if they want. Gay relationships often do not have time to mature, and gay people have been socially conditioned to not even think of marriage as a viable option, so they have made do for so long, it doesn't seem necessary to some.

Again, I would love to have that option here in Texas.

[tdogg]

We are fighting for the right to equality and the same priviledges as heterosexuals. That does not necessarily mean we will all choose to marry. Many heteros remain single, or live together without benefits that marriage provides.

We should settle for nothing less than what anyone else has. I should have the same priviledges as my neighbor, so that it is my choice whether or not to partake in those priviledges. Right now, there is no choice. I have an option to take the few priviledges I can get with the system in our state. Not equal, not even close.