Why I Voted No on Prop.8

A week ago today my best cousin and I were on our way to what may have been my last trip to Disneyland. Knowing we may be stuck in traffic I took my Official Voter Information Guide with me so I could review and decide on the Props. As I waded through the legal jargon of Prop 8 it occurred to me I shouldn't be voting on 8 at all. I don't believe in marriage at all. I told my cousin that as we waited for her breakfast burrito in the drive-thru. The reality of the situation is this, if I don't believe in marriage, I don't really care if people get married or not. If I was staying here in California ensconced by my family David and I would not be getting married. David and I will be married for safety and protection under the law. David and I,as married American citizens, will enjoy the rights and freedoms of our country. I am an American and if there is one thing I will not stand for are certain rights for me and other rights for other people.

My parents did not raise me with fear and hate in my heart. They raised me to be an intelligent,productive member of a diverse society. They raised me with a sense of right and wrong. It is wrong to deny freedom to other people that you yourself enjoy whether or not you agree with them or their views.

Yes, I was raised by a heterosexual married couple but it wasn't always a happy home. There were times when, I thought,when I prayed to the God I sometimes believed in, that they should have never married. The arguing was constant and the tension immense. My parents had three children and then they decided to get married, to "do the right thing". The right thing however isn't always the best thing. My parents have been separated for roughly ten years and at some point they may pursue a legal divorce. Now they see each other occasionally and sometimes they argue and sometimes they get along. People are always quick to respond with an "I'm sorry" or a "You must have been so affected living in broken home." when told about my home life. I am always quick to snap back with "No". I do not come from a broken home. I was loved and cared for. My parents made sure that my brothers and I understood that through it all that we would always be loved, I would always have a mother and a father even if they didn't get along, I would always have a home and my brothers and I would have each other. I understand that my parent's problems are not mine they are not caused by me. I am a functioning member of society because my parents explained those things to me. I may have a negative view of marriage but that is my opinion.

I do not wish to "Protect Marriage" if it means potentially creating a life for a child that is filled with fear and uncertainty. They are good marriages and bad marriages,relationships, gay and straight. As far as, the whole "marriage is for procreation" so gay couples can't procreate so they can't get married argument. Well,guess what, married couples aren't the only ones who have children. Non-married folks have children too and their children are no worse or better off. Frankly, marriage to me isn't about procreation. It's about love,commitment and building a lasting, working, relationship with another human being. That way if children become a product of that union or are adopted into that union the relationship the committed couple has created shows by example that there is love,goodness and equality in the world for everyone.

Isn't that what the Bible preaches,the Bible I believe in says:Love and acceptance. People of Christian faith believe that homosexuality is wrong because it says so in the Bible. Honestly, we don't follow the letter of the Bible on everything. Read this excerpt from chapter 25 of Deuteronomy:

25:5. When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:

25:6. And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.

25:7. But if he will not take his brother’s wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up his brother’s name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.

25:8. And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:

25:9. The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother’s house:

25:10. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.

I am pretty sure David's brothers do not want to be forced to marry me in the event of his death. They live in America where they have the freedom to choose their partner. I also know they probably don't want to lose an eye from a Converse shoe to the face.