SBNN Essay

I entered a essay contest where you had to write about the first amendment rights to freedom of speech and an issue that needs to be changed. The winners were suppose to have been told weeks ago, so I'm fairly certain I didn't win. That's okay. I just wanted to share my essay with possibly someone, so here it is. If anything I said was inaccurate/offensive let me know. Hope you like it.
  
 

Time to Shape Our World

            Once upon a time there was a girl and boy. Skip to the end of the story and everyone will say that they fall in love and live happily ever after. Not everybody’s story works out as easily as that, but wouldn’t it be nice to make it as easy as possible for everyone to achieve his or her happiness? In a perfect world, everybody is equal and has all the rights that they need to remain equal. It is just too bad that our world is still fighting the idea that someone may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or anything other than straight.

Recently there has been much to discuss in the LGBT community. It is 2013 and there is now marriage equality in nine states plus D.C. Unfortunately, not a single one of those is a southern state yet. It can be, however. If everyone begins to believe in the cause, legalizing marriage equality in Florida would be an easy matter. History is being changed every day, most recently with Obama’s Inaugural speech, the first ever to include the word “gay.” He deduces that as all citizens are equal under the law, “the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.” Florida as a whole could easily shift perspectives. It does not matter whom one loves, as we are all made of the same blood and bone, and the feeling that makes up love is purely in the relationship of two people. However, not everyone thinks in this manner, so marriage equality still suffers.

There are many arguments people have with same-sex marriage. First of all, there is the biblical argument of relations within the same sex being “an abomination.” Yet the Bible is has an odd assortment of prohibitions, including divorce, tattoos, premarital sex, and work during the Sabbath. Aside from that, doesn’t our country believe in separation of church and state? Therefore, since same-sex marriage follows the moral code, the right should not be barred because of religious beliefs. Some believe it will destroy traditional marriage. However, it has not done that yet; in fact, there is a greater risk of a husband having an affair with a friend of his wife’s than with a lesbian friend of his. In what way it would destroy traditional marriage, I do not know. The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has not had any negative effects on the military either. Others, nonetheless, raise the argument of same-sex relationships being “unnatural.” In spite of that, as scientific fact gay penguins and other same-sex animals exist together in the wild; it is entirely part of nature. If one puts his hand to his chest he will feel his heart beating. In the heart, love is just love, no matter with whom. Love is more natural in any form than all our manmade creations and technologies.

The hatred towards LGBTs is repulsive, as are the terrible events that have occurred because of it. I am sure that there is bullying and physical assaults every single day because of sexual orientation. It does nothing to do nothing or silently shake our heads at this violence. What can we do? It is said that youth are the power within a society. If enough of us speak, society as a whole can change. In Ireland, there are societies and videos advocating for everyone to accept people who are not straight. I commend them. We should be doing more to support the same in our own society. Not all of us can vote yet. But if the youth educate those who can and will vote, if LGBTs can get the same rights as the rest of us, and if we educate the young to be accepting of differences, we can rid ourselves of so much hatred.

So, we must educate ourselves. We must prove how we are very much the same. In fact, in being different we are the same. We are the same! Time and time again through history, we have broken through challenges of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and females being discriminated against because of them being “different” than the white men who have ruled society for centuries. We have so many differences in race, gender, sexuality, likes, dislikes, allergies, blood type, religion, and everything else one could possibly think of. Yet we are all humans. We are the same. We must share this idea with all to get anywhere in the fight for equality. We won’t have to fight homophobic bullying or violence if we all believe in the equality we must share. Whatever we have to do to achieve this conviction, that is what we have to do, because that is what people deserve. It is essential to the very thought of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, principles that helped to form our country.

I am not the first to write about this. Hopefully I’ll not be the last either. As young adults, we are told to stand up for what we believe in, so this is my contribution. I am a part of Straight but Not Narrow, an organization trying to make love just love. If there is anything I have learned in my own journey, it is that. We should be whatever we are meant to be. So though I am straight, I would not mind if I skipped into the sunset of my life holding hands with a girl.