jaredferguson.com

Okay, so he’s not really the devil, but I thought that was pretty funny after I dugg the article, that’s what showed up. As a matter of fact, I think Mr. Olberman is anything but the devil. Keith’s comments are thought provoking and, I believe, very appropriate. I know that perhaps my feelings on the issue may be contrary to those of many people I know, but I wish to make my feelings known.

Unlike Mr. Olberman and many others, I have a personal stake in the fight. Though I have no close friends that have struggled with coming “out of the closet” nor am I homosexual myself, I have worked with people whose lives have been utterly shredded and fractured by this issue. I have seen the pain it causes first hand. I know of people who have taken their own lives in fear of being stigmatized as “gay” and people who continue to live lives of misery, ruining their families and children, for the same reason. I have committed to myself and others to fight social injustice and this is as unjust as anything I have seen in my lifetime. I have moved from preaching acceptance to practicing it and in doing so have learned much about myself, but more importantly others.

People, It is time we rid ourselves of the hatred and ill-conceieved “tolerance” that has so long defined this issue. The underpinnings of Proposition 8 do, in fact, share a history of sordid legislation, which in many places in this country - for well over a century - worked to keep loving heterosexual African-American couples from enjoying the same rights and privileges as their white counterparts. The majority deciding the rights of the minority has been an oft-repeated mistake from which this country has yet to learn.

Though all religions have the right to include and exclude people as they see fit, they do not have the right to legislate from the pulpit matters relating to our constitutionally-guaranteed equal treatment. I believe it hypocritical to teach love and acceptance of all while supporting such bigotry. I would rather have people be honest and admit their secret disdain for others than to see them cover their feelings under the transparent veil of tolerance.

Without equal treatment, our freedom to believe what we wish would simply not exist. With equal treatment not mostly in place, this topic would never have been up for discussion. Our ability to speak and believe what we will are guaranteed by these same rights and selective execution is a practice which has been ruled against time and again. In our system, these same rights may work for or against us and with that being said, I make the following statement: Any group - religious or otherwise - who takes upon themselves the responsibility of working against the cause of equality - equality guaranteed to all by our country’s most sacred document - is dead wrong in calling the backlash to any such work “persecution.” When the pendulum is pushed to far to one side, it will inevitably swing back to the other.

Finally, I will say this: I will NEVER support any such legislation, proposition, referendum, or the like which conspires to undermine equal treatment of those to whom such rights are promised under the law. To me, same-sex marriage deals not with the issue of right or wrong; rather it deals with the issue of the rights of all citizens and wrongs committed against them.

To the reader: Regardless of your religious or political leanings on the issue of same-sex marriage, I encourage you to watch Mr. Olberman’s message and as such, have decided to embed the video in this post.