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February 5, 2004
Yea Massachusetts!!!! The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Wednesday that same-sex couples were entitled to marry, beginning as early as May. This landmark decision will be hotly contested in the next coming weeks - but I hope that common sense prevails, and that other states use the ruling as a guideline in the future.
I live in Ohio, where I am sad to our legislature isn't as sensible. The Ohio Legislature on Tuesday approved one of the country's broadest bans on same-sex marriage, prohibiting state agencies from extending benefits to gay and lesbian domestic partners and barring the state from recognizing civil unions granted elsewhere.
Who are they to deny the basic right of marriage and partnership between any two, legal-aged people? Are you against gay marriage? Think back to your own wedding day. To the joy and love you felt for another. Why would you want to support a law or a bill or a constitutional amendment that would prohibit a small group of people from enjoying the same bliss? The same public recognition of being "joined as one".
I can not have children. Does this mean that my husband and I should have been denied the right to marry? We can't create our own family. We can't procreate. This doesn't mean that we haven't made a lifetime commitment to each other. Just as gay and lesbian couples mean no less of a commitment because of their inability to have children on their own.
Please - just think about this. Don't support something because of political party affiliation. Or something that you don't fully understand. Civil marriage, other forms of relationship recognition, and basic civil rights protections are essential components that make all families, including families headed by same-sex couples, safer and more secure. Civil marriage and religious marriage are two separate things. Religious institutions will never be forced to bless relationships with which they disagree, just as today religious institutions can refuse to marry couples of different faiths or individuals who have been divorced.
Recently there has been much done on "my behalf" by politicians that I can not stand by and watch happen any longer. Bringing forth any bill to discriminate is one of them. I have been and will always be against any legislature to ban gay couples from being able to enjoy marriage as I've been allowed to enjoy it.
As much as I didn't like Massachusetts when I visited there - it seems a better place to be than Ohio right now.
For more information please visit: Human Rights Campaign
~Trixie
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