During the summer, gay rights and marriage equality has been talked about in the news and political arenas.
Even some companies, such as Chick-Fil-A and Oreo’s rainbow cookie, have come out against it or in support of it. It has caused a lot of controversy on both sides, from people refusing to eat at Chick-Fil-A and others boycotting Oreo because of their support.
It is not a surprise to us that Chick-Fil-A came out against gay equality. They are a Christian-founded company and have kept it that way for more than 66 years; however, their support and donations of millions of dollars to anti-gay, hate groups and organizations claiming they can cure homosexuality is what sent a lot of people over the edge about it.
Many people were offended by Oreo coming out in support of marriage equality because they do not support it themselves.
What they fail to realize is a lot of major American companies support it, including Apple, Dell, Coors Brewing, Ford Motor Companies, Best Buy and more.
Gay marriage is not a personal issue for most of us because most of our editors are heterosexual; however, just because it is not an issue in our lives does not mean we are not taking a stand. Why should certain individuals, just because they like something different than most, be denied the rights that are supposed to be given to them?
Just because someone likes or loves a member of the same sex does not make them any less of a person. They still wake up, work and pay taxes like every other American, so they deserve the same rights that marriage grants. There are domestic partnerships, but that does not guarantee the same rights for the spouse, such as insurance or any decision if the spouse dies.
According to certain groups of Christians, homosexuals are going to hell because it says in Leviticus that a man should not lie next to his fellow man.
However, it also says people should not get their hair cut. Leviticus is a part of the Old Testament, and, when the New Testament was written, even though it does condemn homosexuality, it talks more about forgiveness because Jesus died for the sins of everyone who accepts him. So the argument about homosexuals from Leviticus is invalid.
Other people claim that homosexuality is a choice. One of our editors is openly gay, so his argument, and a lot of others’ arguments, is they were born this way.
It is a choice if a person comes out as homosexual or bisexual. However, it is not a choice. Why would people choose to be a way that makes a lot of people look down on them for and consider them less than a human? Why would they choose it when a lot of people are harassed or die while they are walking down the street with their significant other?
It is no choice, it is genetics.
There are some who claim the LGBT community is going to try and turn all straight people gay, and that is not the case at all. They just want rights, and they are going to fight for them until they get them, the same way African Americans and women did more than 60 years ago. It’s the same situation, just different discriminants.
Denying one group of people rights that anyone else is entitled to is like giving all but three children in a class of 30 a cookie and telling the three who did not get one they did not deserve it because their shirts were multi-colored.
We are all people, and we all want to be accepted. Even though some may not agree with what we are saying, all we are asking is for acceptance. It is not going to ruin the sanctity of marriage, and it will not cause the end of the world.
Acceptance is key. It is 2012, and fighting for civil rights should be a thing of the past.
There are millions of issues that need attention, and, because we are still fighting something that should have been taken care of years ago, other issues are being ignored.
It will not be an easy battle for the LGBT community, but it will happen, whether people are for it or against it.
It is not a “gay issue,” it is a human rights issue.
STAFF EDITORIAL
horizon@ius.edu
