I wasn't going to post about marriage. First of all I can't tell you all what it means to see all of those equal signs on facebook. It's awesome to know that I have that kind of support.
To my cousin and sister-in-law and all the people who "click" like on the post "disagreement is not hate. High time we realise honouring man-woman marriage is not bigoted." I agree it isn't hateful to think that marriage should be between a man and a woman. However, many of the people who hold this view do so for bigoted reasons.
Disagreeing with my views is one thing. Depriving me of federal benefits, legal protections, visitation rights, property/inheritance rights, custody rights is quite another. You may believe that I should receive some of these rights. You may think that I only deserve these rights if I'm married.
We can only disagree if we have a conversation. We live in a civil society, and thinking that I civilly shouldn't be married is quite different from believing that I shouldn't be married in a religious institution. Or specifically, your institution, since there are many churches who do want to recognize same-sex marriages.
If you want me to "respect" your rights to worship (which I do), please respect mine. I'm not getting married anytime soon, but I do have a partner, whom I love, and who I would like to be ok if anything were to happen to me. You may not agree with me or my choices. I'm not asking you too.
I'm just asking you to respect my civil rights.
The beautiful thing is, if things go the right way, it doesn't matter at all what you think. Justice will be done.
And if not, we will continue to fight until it is.
