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Putting a face to the marriage debate

In the past few issues of BTL, there has been so much news to report about marriage for same-sex couples that we can no longer fit it in our National News Briefs column. We've instead given marriage its own column called "Marriage news from around the country" (catchy, isn't it?). Marriage for same-sex couples is literally blanketing this country like a wild fire – but a good wild fire, not the kind that destroys homes and families. We're talking a metaphorical wild fire – a fire that has ignited the passion and conviction and spirit of LGBT people and allies across this nation.
We're seeing that same kind of fire blazing here in Michigan. Over the past month we have seen rallies in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Detroit, and have received word that one is being planned for Ann Arbor. LGBT people and allies have gone to Lansing on numerous occasions to lobby their representatives about the anti-gay marriage amendment proposal in Michigan. People are writing letters, coming out to their families, and using their talents to fight for their right to marry. Local people are getting fired up over marriage and they aren't afraid to put their faces on this controversial issue.
The conversation about marriage (which so often takes the tone of heated debate) is often a difficult one to have. Listening to right-wing pundits spew hateful rhetoric about us and our families is hurtful and a lesser community might fall into the trap of self-pity and hide. However, the mean-spirited divisiveness of the same-sex marriage debate has brought same-sex couples out of their homes and into the streets to say, "How dare you try to define us?" They say, "This is who we are. This is how we love. We are as human as you and we pose no threat to marriage or the social fabric of this country."
We recognize the historic importance of this dialog. Never before have so many LGBT voices and faces been broadcast on the news, in the papers, on the radio. Images of loving same-sex couples are everywhere battling the outdated rhetoric lumping homosexuality together with pathological sexual conditions. No longer can people reasonably claim to not know any LGBT people. It is becoming more and more evident that same-sex couples who want to be married are no different than opposite sex couples and it is turning the tide of the marriage debate.
We have seen so much evidence of the strength of our community in the past few months. It makes us hopeful, it makes us confident, and it makes us proud. We urge all of our readers to stand up and claim this fight. We salute the people who are taking this fight personally. There is, quite frankly, no other way to take it.

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