Seven weeks ago, on the greatest night of my entire life, I asked the woman I love with every ounce of my being to marry me. The night took months of preparation, and in a moment of absolute perfection, she said “Yes.”
The next morning the gravity of it all began to hit me, and I just couldn’t stop smiling. It seemed like everyone around us wanted to celebrate our love for one another. And as happy as I was, strangely, I found myself thinking about gay rights.
Over the past decade of my life many of those I’ve become closest to have been in love with members of the same sex. Some hid this for years, others came out. I never thought of their sexuality as their most identifying factor. But the morning after getting engaged, as I pictured each of my friends on the happiest day of their future lives, I realized that those who are gay cannot experience what I’d experienced the night before in many parts of our nation. And suddenly, the gay marriage debate became personal.
In the course of US history there have been many shifts in civil liberties that were initially met with great confrontation. But the commitment to equality for all is what should serve as our guiding compass in this debate. We should strive to create a society which says “Your love is celebrated” to every man and woman, regardless of the partner they choose.
The debate over gay marriage won’t go away anytime soon. Neither will the love shared between those members of our society who are discriminated against because of our current system. What will shift is the role of the bystander in this debate- the 20-something straight guy. No longer can we be silent because the rules don’t impact us directly. It’s time for us to stand up in support of our friends, our family members, our colleagues and the future society we seek to create.
As Samuel Johnson said, “An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.” It’s time for us to act that way.
Marin
That’s interesting! I’ve been hunting for a place like this for quite a long
time.
Warren Armstrong
I think where folks might have a slightly different perspective is with the comment, “equality for all is what should serve as our guiding compass” – because I’m not sure that everyone believes that “equality for all” is in fact “the guiding compass”. I’m an analyst and can tell you that, without definition, people apply principles however they want. In mathematics, proving an equality is all about showing what’s on the left side of the equal sign to be the same as what’s on the right side of the equal sign. And similarly, when equations are not mathematical, not all equality prove true. But that’s the challenge in that, we show both sides of the equal signs to be the same value. With that, here’s some definition for you, Adam.
equality for all = God’s Law (surely this is equal truth and love for all)
guiding compass = God
That might help clear things up. And by the way, I think the work you’re doing is amazing. Very nice job, indeed.
jackie
You rock Adam! A patient of your Dad’s gave me your book (I saw him reading it on a train going into the city.) I read it in 2 days and my teens are going to read it this summer-it’s required reading, by mom:) I plan to discuss your adventures and (hopefully) teach them a bit about how best to live one’s life. You are a remarkable young man.