I am a Christian who supports gay marriage. Why?
#1: Legal rights. Partners should have access to each other in the hospital. They should be able to make life and death decisions for each other. They should be allowed in critical care rooms. They should be allowed to assign insurance benefits to their partner. They should be able to receive health insurance under their partner's employer. They should be allowed to be a beneficiary of life insurance when their partner passes. They should be able to share in the civil liberties that I have because I am my husband's spouse.
#2: I'm not God. It's not my place to judge how anyone lives their life. Incidently, I am of the opinion that people are born that way and cannot change their orientation any more than I can change my orientation and suddenly become a lesbian. People are born with variety of diseases, disabilities, deletions, combinations of boy and girl "parts" and yes...they were born that way. God doesn't make mistakes. So for the child that was born with a neurological disorder...you matter. For the child that was born with both male and female genitalia...you matter. My child was born with Autism, and I fight for acceptance and his rights as a human being daily. If my child were born gay, I would fight for his rights as a human being daily.
#3: If you don't like it...don't do it. This situation doesn't even effect me. I am not homosexual, so it is not an issue for me whether or not my homosexual neighbor can be legally married or not. So I don't care. Go ahead and get married. For the religious aspect of it I have several responses. For those who say marriage is between a man and a woman...great. But people are trying to gain access to civil rights! The ability to have all the things listed in #1. Telling someone they cannot do something because you think it is wrong is like telling me I can't have a milkshake because you are fat. What if the person is athiest, agnostic, Pentacostal, Wiccan, Catholic, Baptist, Free, Muslim? That's like saying, well...Muslim women should all wear a hijab, and you aren't Muslim, but Muslims are right so now you have to wear a hijab. That's not going to work. America...religious freedom even means for those who have no religion. It's just a fact.
I am not the type to get overly political or even try to convert people to my way of thinking. It's mine, and that is what is beautiful about America. I get to have my own opinion and make my own decisions. Because of the brave women that came before me, I can vote, I can blog, I can choose to work or stay home, I have access to reproductive health resources, I can choose who I want to marry, I have health insurance and life insurance through my husband. Why? Because they are my rights as an American citizen. That is what the movement is about. Not whose religion is correct. Not whether or not we believe that this is a moral issue. Not whether or not we believe this is a choice or a birth destiny. Not whether or not you approve of the lifestyle. Can my friend and his life partner, who have been together over 10 years, have the same rights and benefits that Josh and I do being married over 14 years? It's so simple that it's maddening to me.
That said, in March my best friend and I saw that the NOH8 campaign was coming to Austin, a short 3 hour drive from our town. We have been talking about wanting to show our support and take photos for years so we jumped on this opportunity. We got a lot of backlash for it, and that's ok. I feel strongly about it and I wanted to do it. But we also got a lot of support from it. Evidently they had a huge response to this year's campaign and it took them quite a long time to get our professional pictures in. But they came in today.
I think they turned out well! They did different poses of us, but chose this one, which was honestly my favorite as well. I'm so glad that we were able to do this together in our super conservative state of Texas. Maybe one day, things will be different. I would love to see it in my lifetime.
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