GAY MARRIAGE

This is the last time, I hope, that I'll write about this subject, unless it's mentioned in a story that I write.

When someone takes something away from someone else without permission, that is stealing. The Federal government doesn't give rights, they take rights away. The American government has stolen my right to marry.

No one has the right to enslave another. They have the power. No one has the right to say that one adult can't marry another adult. They just have the power. Having the power to do wrong does not make it right. Just because something is legal doesn't make it right. This country still has not recovered from slavery. Just because it is not talked about much doesn't mean it has been forgotten or forgiven -- especially when it still exist.

As a Black woman, I know the hurt that still exist in the Black community because of what was done to our foreparents.

As a homosexual Black woman, I know the hurt that homosexual Black people feel when heterosexual Black people vote to deny us the right to legally marry. I know the hurt when some heterosexual Black people publicly make nasty comments about us. It's no different than being called nigga by a White person.

I know, I can have a ceremony, but it wouldn't be legal -- which is meant to make me feel like a criminal. Doing what is not legal is a criminal act according to man's law, which is higher than God's law.

I'm not an angry Black woman, I am a pissed-off Black woman because my rights have been stolen from me by my government. I am pissed-off that Black people born and raised in America would vote against anyone's rights being taken from them. I am an American citizen so I am suppose to have the same rights. Damn, people who were not born here have more rights than I do.

I'm pissed-off that Schwarzenegger, a foreigner, can get legally married here while I can't. He has more rights than I do. Why does his opinion matter more than an American Gay person born and raised in California or anywhere else in this country? And Federal officials who make the laws are cowards for letting this issue be decided state by state -- which in itself goes against the U.S. Constitution. How can a major issue such as marriage be decided state by state. Same-sex marriage is legal in one state but cross that line and it's not legal, not recognized. Marriage is not on the same level as liquor, gambling, the lottery, etc. Legal marriage should be a Federal issue -- since they insist on making it an issue at all.

It saddens me that in this new millennium, I feel no comfort and no trust in my fellow Americans who continue to resist change. It wasn't that long ago, that my foreparents were slaves. They had to wait and persevere until change came. It came with a price. Human life. Change didn't come out of kindness, it came because people fought and died for it. How many Gay people will die simply because they are Gay? How many Gay people will be murdered simply because they like or love somebody?

In America, Gays are legally less than human and not citizens in this country. The American government has not come right out and stated it, but that's what it means when they take away our rights to legally marry. It's called justification. Black people were considered less than human and not citizens so it was okay to enslave abuse, rape, and kill us. Gay people in this country are thought of as less than human and not citizens so we don't have the same rights as heterosexual people in this country. Remember, at some point, even a few slaves were paid for the work they did on occasion and was allowed to basically run the plantation, but had no rights. Even slaves were allowed to pick a mate but wasn't considered really married. Even slaves could have children but wasn't really thought of as parents. Marriage is a man-made idea that has nothing to do with God. Religion is a man-made idea that has nothing to do with God. Religious ideas has been forced on people to the point of death. I can stand in a field, before God and make vows to the woman I love, but it will not be recognized by man-made law.

Things have not changed that much in this country. Just a different issue with the same rhetoric as an excuse to oppress people. Bigots used fear to hold back the progress of free Black people. Most White people during slavery times did not own slaves or even approve of slavery. But it wasn't them, so they didn't publicly object. And the few that did was treated no better than Black people. White women had to be protected from the Black bucks who would ravish them. How is that different than saying children must be protected from Gays? And all the other nonsense.

It is all a scare tactic designed to keep Gays from being visible in a positive way. Because just as White people got more use to seeing Black people around, the easier it got to just think about Blacks as being fellow human beings -- working and raising families, fussing, fighting, cussing, having fun, and trying to survive just like them. No worse on the whole. And as Gays get more visibility, heterosexuals will see that on the whole, we are not much different. Of course, there will always be bigots who don't like people for whatever reason.

But to have my government saying that I am less than human, less than a citizen, pierces.

Yes, I am a pissed-off Black woman, I am an pissed-off Gay woman. I am a pissed-off woman. But I don't take it out on others. How long am I suppose to wait for change? How many of my ancestors died a slave and knew that their grandchildren would be slaves? How many decades after I no longer exist will Gays be allowed to legally marry and have all the benefits that goes with simply writing their names on a piece of paper.

There is suppose to be a separation of church and state. Religion is suppose to be a choice. So the American government should not be making laws based on religious doctrine? --Salty