Equal Sensibility

I was cleaning out my basement with my mother earlier this week. We were trying to empty out some storage containers in order to help with my move back to school. Well we decided to empty all of the containers that had my childhood papers and toys. We ended up with about 8 large garbage bags of toys that would be donated and papers that would be recycled. But before I could hand these papers over to the fate of the recycling truck, I, of course, had to go through all of them first. I made fun of myself for certain things, became nostalgic upon finding others.

The paper that I found most interesting was this: On the first day of fourth grade, we filled out a survey about different things. Our favorite color, our best friend, and things like that. There was one line that stuck out, we had to finish the sentence, “If I ruled the world, I would...” And this is how I, as my ten year old self, finished the sentence: “If I ruled the world, I would make sure everyone had equal rights.”

I realize that as a ten year old, I was not focussed on marriage equality across the United States, or a health care system, or immigration laws. But between the way I was raised and my naive sensibility, I knew that our world is supposed to be ultimately based on equality.

My question today is this: Why did I, as a ten year old, have more sense than the majority of our own United States have today? It has been over six years since Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage. And in those six years, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington DC have also legalized same-sex marriage. At this rate, same-sex marriage will not be nationally recognized until the year 2055. Why wait?

I recently watched, at the suggestion of a friend, a wonderful documentary called For the Bible Tells Me So. It follows self-proclaimed “religious” families as they find out that they have a gay child or other family member. It is amazing the turnaround that each of these families had in their views once it was directly impacting their lives. One of the biggest arguments against gay marriage is that it will affect children, and that more children will be gay. Perhaps the number of publicly gay people will rise, but that will not be because they are being taught to live that way, but rather there will be less hatred and ignorance, and people will feel more comfortable coming out to their friends and family.

A 2010 article published by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York analyzed the psychological mindset of members of the LGBT community in states that recognize same-sex marriage versus those that don’t. The study found an “increase in psychiatric disorders among the LGBT population living in states that instituted bans on same-sex marriage.” In 2009, a study at Emory University found a link between state bans on same-sex marriage and an increase in the rate of HIV infection.

I could rant on this topic for hours and hours and hours. There will most likely be many more entries about this topic. This is only the beginning. But I can't wait until we find greater sensibility, and it's the end of this unnecessary battle.

Just last Wednesday, the country of Argentina legalized same-sex marriage nationally. I’m confused why Argentina, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington DC, and a ten year old boy have things figured out, but the rest of the United States still have to get their act together.

Until next time.

kp