Proposition 8 Divisions and Unnecessary Controversy

(Written October 14, 2008)

This'll be a hard note for me to write for a few reasons, but please hear me out because this is important to me.

The divisiveness, controversy, and hate that has sprung from this current nationwide debate over how marriage should be defined deeply saddens me. I believe that people on both sides of this argument do not hold to whatever position they hold to specifically to be hateful or exclusive, but unfortunately, the hate seems to naturally occur anyway. People get the wrong idea about motives from people, as to why they hold a certain opinion over another, and then the finger-pointing begins. People in support of Prop 8 are accused of being anti-gay, intolerant, non-inclusive, bigots, and haters. People opposed to Prop 8 are also accused of being haters, intolerant to "traditional marriage", evil, non-Christian, or just plain ignorant to how things "should" be. I think I have enough faith in humanity to believe that neither of these groups of accusations are generally accurate. People are not naturally hateful! We are better than this! At the very least, we ought to be! Forces will try to convince us otherwise, but we have the capacity to completely overcome hate, and turn it on its ugly head. I really hope that sometime soon, we, as a human family, will be able to tap into that capacity.

Personally, I can neither support or oppose Prop 8 because, frankly, I feel rather neutral about the whole thing. Same-sex marriage is not something I condone, but it's also not something that I feel personally threatened by. And it most definitely is not cause for me to inflict harm on, or feel hate towards those people that may not agree with me. Whatever happened to respecting other people's beliefs?! Whatever happened to unconditional love? Have we forgotten how to be accepting and tolerant? Personally, I do not believe that humanity as a whole has reached that dark place, but some of us are headed in that direction.

I believe the very existence of this debate (not being for or against the proposition) is creating undue contention and controversy, and is inspiring division of a nation that is already severely divided. Unity should be our goal. As this conflict moves forward, I believe that we should all try our best to show and express unconditional love to everyone, no matter what their differences of opinion are. In my opinion, we shouldn't feel threatened by differences in beliefs and cultures. I have a lot of respect for people who do hold strongly to their beliefs without imposing them on others. One ought not to feel obligated to embrace another's belief that they may not necessarily agree with, in order to embrace the unity that should exist between people of all different shapes, sizes, and philosophies. Afterall--since every single one of us is in fact different--our differences should be the very element that unites us in the first place.