Same-Sex Marriage: 'Too Silenced' or 'Too In Your Face'?
It's no longer same-sex marriage, gay marriage --- it's just good ol' marriage now. The most awful thing to see is one of your closest friends or even perhaps a family member comment on a public post on same-sex marriage legalization, to find that they are totally against it. Listen: not everybody is going to agree that this is "right" or this is "wrong" and that's OK. Live your life the way you want to. Your personal convictions and relationship with God or lack thereof is your own business. Let people see their true colors by the way they treat others either on social media or in person. I have seen quite a few antigay slurs being used like, "Don't support these fags" as well as encouraging violent acts by saying things like, "Go kill yourselves!" Oddly enough, they all came from self-proclaimed Christians. Way to bring people closer to God.
But then there's the silence.
It's the silence of those who you thought supported you, but
Nope.
Wrong.
Here's a little story I'm going to share with you, so take it for what it's worth. And I'm not sharing this story in order to shame anyone or accuse anyone of not being supportive. I'm just making a point. Back in October of 2008, I was walking down the 'sandy aisle' of Provincetown's beach to greet my wife so that we could get married in front of family and friends who had joined us. All year we prepared this quaint little wedding on our favorite beach next to our favorite restaurant, to which we had the reception dinner afterwards. Given the fact that Provincetown, MA is about five plus hours away, I didn't expect many people to come. It's hard to drive that far and to take time off from work. So needless to say, not one family member of mine were present. Madelene's mother and her new husband were there to support us, as well as my closest friends.
This shot right here is me trying to get my heels out of the sand to stand next to my to-be-wife. I remember what I was thinking at that very moment. It was all I could do to hide the tears. I will admit, it did sort of distract me from the present moment, but I pulled it together. The thoughts of my beautiful sisters and my parents watching on would have been the best thing ever. But that didn't happen for me and it wasn't because they didn't love me and my wife -- it was because life isn't always favoring. Let's just say they didn't attend my wedding because they had reservations about supporting same-sex marriage. Suck it up and live your life. Who cares. Let it go. I don't support a lot of things certain heterosexual marriages do -- but it's none of my business. If people are uncomfortable attending an event that they're not supportive of -- don't force them to do it just because you feel it's being "discriminatory". There are some people who happen to have strong convictions about this
Please don't confuse this with being weak or that I have given up on taking a stance on what the true biblical scriptures tell me about "sin", and how I interpret them to be because homosexuality is not a sin. Please never think I have stopped being an advocate for the LGBT community -- I will always be supportive. But when does it come to the point where we just have to say, "OK, they don't agree and that's that?" It's not "giving up" -- it's living your life without the need for anyone's approval. Fight for your rights (as we have done), but to the right people. And look how far we've come. As old as the hashtag #LoveWins is -- how true, how true! Love really does win. When people get a law passed that is not only sincere and genuine, but more about human rights than anything else -- it'll always win. Laws
Now go get married -- do whatever you want. I don't care. Neither should anyone else.
Just be happy.
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