My dream ....

I think by now, if you have been reading my blog at all, you know that I am a big believer that ALL people should be accepted, loved and treated as equal and important.

Tomorrow my friends and relatives in Minnesota are voting on an amendment that would limit the rights of some people if it passes.

I know that not all people believe in same sex marriage, and that is their right.  We all have the right to believe how we believe.

I have been extremely grateful that no one has blasted me for my beliefs and thoughts.  I konw that my views are not always popular but they are mine.  I work hard to tell my kids that you do not have to agree with the opinions of others, but you have to respect their right to have their own opinion.

In that light, I will NOT blast people for having the beliefs that they do, even if I disagree with them.

I will remind people, however, that voting NO will not change anything.  Voting NO will keep things exactly as they currently are in Minnesota.  There are still like 155 laws in Minnesota that limit the rights of same sex couples.  Voting NO will not change any of that.  Voting NO will not allow same sex couples to marry, because they are not recognized now.

Voting yes will make it a law saying that marriage is ONLY between a man and a woman.

Will that mean that same sex couples will cease to exist?  NO
Will that mean that same sex couple will stop raising families?  NO
Will that mean that your heterosexual marriage will mean more?  NO

So, if voting yes doesn't stop all of this, what is the point of voting yes?  The only point that I truly see is to tell some people that their love is not as important or worthy of other's love.

Seriously - can we legislate love and who has a right to be a couple?  I don't think so.

It wasn't so long ago that there were rallies in the streets trying to ban inter-racial marriages.

Have inter-racial marriages destroyed our country?  NO
Have inter-racial marriages destroyed the sanctity of marriage?  NO
Have inter-racial marriages made my heterosexual marriage less?  NO

Infact, we don't call it "inter-racial marriage" anymore.  We call it...... MARRIAGE.

Marriage is the union of two people who are in love and want to share every aspect of their lives together.

One of the things I've recently seen said it very well to me.

A gay person doesn't go to the gay grocery store, they don't go to the gay post office or go to the gay gas station.

A person is a person is a person.  And one of the hardest things we do in life is find that person who we love and they love us in return.  To find that person who completes us and makes us whole.  To find that person who loves us for our flaws as well as our good points.  To find that person who finishes our thoughts without even trying.

Why should we try to tell someone that they shouldn't love who they love?  God made me who I am.  I've never heard someone say to me that I chose to be attracted to men.  It's just who I am.  No one questioned that.  Yet my friend Joel loves a man, and we question him and say he chose that life?  ARe you kidding me?  Seriously - in the society we live in where the LGBT community is ridiculed, excluded, discriminated against....WHY would anyone chose to be gay?

NO, it's not a choice.  God made them just the way they are.  If we believe that God made me the way I am, why do we not believe that God made them the way they are?  Everything I have always heard and read is that God doesn't make mistakes, God made us all.  So if God made us all and God doesn't make mistakes....well, you see where I am going.

Tomorrow, my friends and family in Minnesota, I hope you will vote NO on the marriage amendment.  Even if you disagree with all of my beliefs, which is your right, a NO vote will not make my world vision come true.  A NO vote simply does NOT limit the rights of one group of people.  A NO vote ensures that this one group of people will NOT have their rights legally made different than my rights.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a 17 minute speech that is still remembered today.  He was fighting for racial equality and an end to discrimination.  Are we where King dreamed?  Not yet - but we are a far sight closer than we were in 1963.

MY dream is that tomorrow, Minnesotans will vote NO so that the rights of a group of people are not limited even more than they already are.  MY dream is that Minnesotans will vote NO.  It is my dream that one day, all people - regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion - will be considered equal.  God made us all and ALL deserve to be treated the same.

This blog tonight is dedicated to all of my friends who have had to fight to be accepted for who they are.  Our world is not fair and I hope that one day you will all be appreciated and loved for who you are.  I love you all for exactly what God made you - amazing!