Marriage

I am incredibly fortunate. I have a wonderful partner. He loves, understands, and supports me. He is caring and generous. He is smart and funny. He is my perfect partner. We have chosen to marry and, thankfully, our marriage is supported. My family loves Philip and his family loves me. We have been very lucky.

We are especially lucky that the government has chosen not to invade our privacy and interfere in our relationship. That's because we are a heterosexual, monogamous relationship. I could not imagine if I would have fallen in love with a woman or if I chose to have a polygamous marriage.

I believe that people should be able to marry whoever they choose. So long as the marriage is between consenting adults, I don't think the government should be able to intervene. I don't care if it is between a man and a woman, two men, two woman, or between 5 different people. If the people involved in that marriage consent to the marriage, the government should butt out.

I don't understand how the government can presume to tell people that homosexuals cannot marry... especially when marriage is becoming a farce as it is. Heterosexuals are doing a fine job of ruining marriage as it is, so I don't see what harm there would be in letting homosexuals marry. I mean, adultery and divorce are sins as well, but I don't see the government trying to make those things illegal either (or at least enforcing laws forbidding those sins).

Who decides which sin is worse? And who decides which ridiculous laws the government is going to try to push? It seems to me that if the government were really trying to act in "defense of marriage," they would outlaw divorce. Wouldn't that make more sense? Don't get me wrong. I am against marriage but I do understand that there are legitimate reasons for divorce (I just wish people didn't get married at the drop of a hat so that marriage would not end in divorce so often). However, I think that divorce does a lot more damage to the idea of marriage than homosexuality does.

There are so many loveless, sexless, hopeless marriages that the government does not try to control... so why should they interfere in a marriage just because 2 men or 2 women are marrying? Who is to say that 2 women or 2 men cannot be just as happy (or happier) than the typical heterosexual couple?

I cannot imagine someone telling me that I could not marry Philip. How would you feel if someone told you that you could not marry your soulmate? It is outrageous.

I know that a lot of people who support gay marriage do not support polygamy. I do. I am not saying that polygamy is going to work for every family. However, I think that people should be able to make their own decisions on how to form their families (within reason -- no family should be allowed to harm their spouse(s) or child(ren)). I think it could be perfectly reasonable for man to have more than one wife or for a woman to have more than one husband. Think of the financial gains for having more than one or two breadwinners in a family. Think of the added help with household chores. Think of the added support for the children in the family.

I know that most people think of the clans that do horrible things to women and children, but this does not have to be the way all polygamous families work. Those clans are disgusting. That's not what I mean when I talk about polygamy. I don't want to see forced marriages or abuse. I'm just saying that polygamy could work in a healthy way.

There is a huge adultery problem in the U.S. I do not condone it, and I would never cheat on my partner, but there is a part of me who understands why some people do seek sex outside of their marriage. People crave variety. If there were multiple partners in a family, that desire for variety could possibly be met (maybe).

Again, I don't think this would work for everyone (or even most people). I don't know very many people who I think could handle a polygamous lifestyle. It would require a certain kind of person to understand and not become jealous of the other wives/husbands in the family. However, I think that people who can be a part of a healthy, polygamous family should be able to do so.

Blech! Now that I've got that all out of my system, I feel much better. Please do comment on the post whether you agree or disagree with anything I've said here. I look forward to seeing opinions! :)

Props to Cindy McCain... And Adam Bouska

Cindy McCain was in the news this week for posing for the NOH8 Campaign. For those of you who do not know, NOH8 is a group formed to protest Prop 8 using photographs. The photos are taken by Adam Bouska.

According to the website, "The campaign started with portraits of everyday Californians who support Marriage Equality and soon rose to celebrities, military personnel, brothers & sisters, law enforcement, lesbian mothers, directors, politicians, newlyweds, and more." Each photo shows at least one person with "duct tape over their mouths symbolizing their voices not being heard and NOH8 painted on one cheek in protest."

A few of the people featured are: Meghan McCain (John & Cindy McCain's daughter), Leslie Jordan, Isaiah Washington, Michael Emerson, Bryan Singer, and Kathy Griffin.

I was truly surprised to see Mrs. McCain go through with this. That just made me even more thrilled about it. So, kudos to her for standing up for what's right no matter her political preferences.

I also need to give MAJOR props to Adam Bouska for somehow making Cindy McCain look not as scary as she normally does.

The NOH8 picture she posed for.

Her normal scary self.

She looks like she could turn me to stone just by looking at me.

Bouska somehow managed to make her look young and angelic instead of evil and terrifying. I'm sure that took some major talent. So, many kudos to you, Mr. Bouska, for making me believe in the impossible.

Don't kill yourself yet...

Haha... so, my previous post was very depressing, but something good has happened. And, it came out of the state of Iowa.

Gay marriage is now allowed in the great state of Iowa. Finally, something progressive for the midwest! :)

Of course, this may not last. California only had legal gay marriage for 5 months before it was taken away. And California is typically very liberal. Iowa may have more difficulty holding on since it's in such a conservative area of the U.S. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it sticks. And, I hope that this causes other states to see that homosexuals have the right to be married as well. I won't hold my breath just yet, though.

I came across a blog from a friend of mine from high school. She was actually bi-curious/bisexual before. Now, it seems that she has found conservative Christianity and thinks that gays should not be allowed access to any sort of marriage. She thinks that if people are gay, they should abstain from relationships.

She feels that the United States should not encourage sins. She said that if we are going to make gay marriage legal that we might as well make murder legal. Because all sins are equal.

I've come across more and more people like this. I'm frightened. It seems as though they just caught the Crazy-ass Conservative Christian flu. I don't want to catch it. I sure hope all of that vitamin C I get in my diet can fight it off.

I told her that the U.S. isn't a Christian nation, and therefore, we can't make laws based on Christianity's idea of what is right. Homosexuality is not hurting anyone (unless you believe that they are going to hell, in which case it's still only hurting them -- you can only tell them your beliefs; not make them believe... otherwise we could just make it a law that everyone in the U.S. has to be a Christian). Murder is taking a life. Big difference.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! These are scary times we are living in. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that you don't catch that flu.

Finally! Some real progress!

I am so excited! We actually have a fully functioning house! Everything in the kitchen works! Everything in the bathrooms work! Most everything is in our house! It's so wonderful!

Yesterday, the countertop people drilled the holes in the counters for the sink. Then, the plumbers came and hooked up the plumbing in the kitchen for the sink, the disposal, and for the dishwasher. I made dinner last night in my new, fully-functioning kitchen! :)

That's not to say that we are finished with the house. I finally found the right paint for the kitchen last night. Sherwin Williams had the right formula for the Slate Green paint that I wanted. So, we bought some and started painting the kitchen. It looks much better. I have to finish touching up the paint and finish painting one of the walls in the kitchen. I also have to do touch up paint on the walls where the baseboard heating was in the hallways. And then I have to do some cleaning. Then, I think we will be finished. :) It's so exciting!

I'm going to take some pictures tonight and I'll put them up hopefully tomorrow. I can't believe the end is in sight! Finally!

Other exciting news: Connecticut ruled in favor of gay marriage! Yay! One step back for California, but a huge step forward for Connecticut! :)