...for finally coming out openly as gay. Many of us 'in' the community have known for years, but it's nice when your state senator and an overall decent politician comes out and says it. I hope that bigotry and small-mindedness amongst some voters will not end his political career. I'm not sure Kentucky is ready for an openly gay politician.
Until people realise that they can learn that someone is gay and it doesn't substantially change the person they thought they were, there will be those who attack gays for a perceived 'lifestyle'. It is no different than asking a person of another race to change colour. A person is born gay--you can debate it all you want, but nothing is going to change that. Sexual orientation--not preference--is an innate thing that is just part of you. Most heterosexuals never even think twice about their orientation, because it is socially accepted and expected. But sexual orientation is merely a part of what we are, but not who we are or the only thing we are. Every gay person I've known (and I've known a lot...we have a sort of a gay triangle between Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington) who was unhappy or maladjusted was so not because of their homosexuality, but because of either how they are actually or how they fear they will be treated by friends and family. I've known people who have committed suicide rather than go on living with that pain. Others have turned to addictions. I knew one guy who was anorexic. He couldn't control his 'gayness' so he controlled his weight. I've known men and women who spent years with a loving partner, perhaps even raising a family, where the only things different were that they were the same gendered and that society did not legally recognise their committment to one another.
It seems amazing to me that the people who steadfastly cling to the idea that human partnering should only be for the propagation of children ignore that thousands of years have gone by since the religious texts were written, and we have, indeed, filled the Earth to an astounding capacity. They ignore the fact that in nature, the product of Creation--however you believe it happened--there are individuals of many species that seem to orient towards the same gender--a small amount, but enough that it exists. They ignore the fact that sex and creating a home together akin to traditional marriage are two fundamental aspects of human behaviour. They ignore that some couples, even heterosexual ones, have completely valid marriages even if they choose not to have children or find themselves unable to. They ignore the simple fact that love...and if I remember my teachings of Christianity, love, especially love for your fellow humans, was more important than all the other rules, is not limited to a man and a woman. True love doesn't really have boundaries. There are some who would say, well, if that's true, if you think men can love men or women love women, where do you draw the line? Doesn't that make child molesting and bestiality fine, too? No, because they aren't love. They're about power, of dominating, of one person imposing him or herself onto a weaker creature in an abusive way. That's never love...even when it's done in the guise of nice, normal, heterosexual marriage. I always look at it this way...which would I rather see my child grow up to have...a loving relationship with someone of his or her own gender or an abusive but socially accepted relationship? There's no doubt in my mind what I would choose. Which would you?
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