Steven’s World

As a Canadian, I am constantly reminding myself, how lucky I am to live in such a free country, where I have the right to marry whoever I love.
I am proud of Canada for being a pioneer in the fight for equality and basic human rights. Only a hand-full of countries around the world has legalized gay marriage. The Netherlands was the first country in 2001, Belgium in 2003, Canada was next in 2005, followed shortly by Spain, South Africa in 2006 and Norway was the last country to legalize gay marriage earlier this year. That’s six countries in the world…SIX out of about 194 countries.
There are of course countries that offer partnerships, but they won’t call it marriage. There are about a dozen titles for these partnerships like, same sex unions, civil partnerships, registered partnerships, civil recognition and domestic partnerships. Some people would think, fine, I don’t care if you let me use the word marriage, I just want my partner and I to be recognized by law as a couple. But the problem is not just the word itself; it is the benefits that come along with marriage, as well as simply being recognized as an equal part of society. Not allowing gays and lesbians to use the word marriage is demeaning. It says same sex couples are not equal and should not be allowed the same freedoms as straight couples.
But, of course, civil recognition is better than no recognition. In nearly 85 countries, like Panama and Barbados, it is still illegal just to be gay (Or more so the act of having gay sex). And in some of those countries, like Jamaica and India, only gay sex between men is illegal. Gay people in these countries are often punished with prison, torture, sodomy and sometimes death. This CNN report shows a bit of what it is like to be gay in a country like Iraq.
So why are these barbaric practices still in place today? It scares me to know that there is so much intolerance and hatred in this world. Even the most powerful country in the world, the US, is still condemning gay marriage and basic gay rights.
Luckily there has been some progress. The state of Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004 and in May of this year, same sex couples were given the right to marry in the state of California. However, there are already people who are trying to take that right away from them. Proposition 8, also known as, “The Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act” will appear on the November 2008 ballot in California. Fortunately, I am not the only person that finds it disturbing to see the words, “eliminates” and “right” in the same title of a state proposition. Sites like NoOnProp8.com and VoteNoOnProposition8.com, whose tagline is “Californians against eliminating basic human rights,” have begun to show up. And Hollywood heavyweights, Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg each donated $100,000 to efforts to stop California’s marriage initiative.
But of course, there’s a flip side. ProtectMarriage.com is encouraging people to vote yes. They feel, if a same-sex couple gets married, it is somehow an infringement on their rights and freedoms. But what about rights and freedoms of the LGBT community? As if a same-sex marriage will have any sort affect on their own marriage. These are usually the same people who think it’s fine that Britney Spears had a 55-hour marriage. Or as it was put by Tina Fey in a skit as Sarah Palin on SNL, “Marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers.” Why don’t these left wing “marriage protectors” fight against the people who are truly threatening the sanctity of marriage?
Typically, these people tend to ignore the fact that marriage was originally instituted when women were considered property and the wedding was a business transaction where the woman’s father would transfer property rights to the new husband.
Although I know a big reason why gay people are still condemned for being themselves has a lot to do with religion, I don’t want to bring religion into this particular discussion, but I do want to make one point. I realized a long time ago that religion is not for me. To me it just promotes exclusion; it says, those who are different don’t belong. And for centuries people have been able to mask their hatred behind religion, but it is time that we accept everyone for who they are, and interpret religious publications like the Bible and the Qur’an as metaphors and not word-for-word translations.
That being said, the only way to truly stand up for yourself in a democracy, like Canada or the US, is with your vote. Whether you are in either country, a very important election is coming up. Although Barack Obama and Joe Biden do not outright support same-sex marriage, they have stood up for gay rights and Obama is continually including the LGBT community in all of his speeches and he even has an LGBT section on his website. He also opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
John McCain on the other hand, supports Proposition 8 and D.O.M.A. (Defense of Marriage Act), which stipulates that no state is required to recognize a same-sex marriage from another state and it prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. And he has said that he does not believe that same-sex couples adopting children is “appropriate.” Essentially to me, what that says is, he believes that children are better off living in adoption agencies than in the homes of gay people.
Thankfully, in Canada, the fight has already been fought. I remember when same-sex marriage finally became legal in 2005. It was covered a lot in the news that the decision was being made by the Supreme Court of Canada that day (the day before my birthday, June 28, 2005). My partner and I were on the edge of our seats waiting for the news. Just knowing that people in Ottawa, who we would probably never meet were currently deciding our future for us. I was anxious. I had faith in Canada, but I did not know enough about the system to really know what was about to happen. Finally, Carlos and I were sitting hand-in-hand when they announced same-sex marriage is legal in Canada. We felt accepted, we were so appreciative and finally we were equal. Soon after, we were engaged and I was legally entitled to refer to my partner of four-years as my fiancé.
Gay marriage became legal in Canada under Paul Martin’s Liberal Government so before Conservative Stephen Harper became the Prime Minister in 2006, he swayed voters by saying that he would revisit the debate on gay-marriage if he was elected. And that’s exactly what he did. My fiancé and I felt hopeless, we were afraid the Conservatives would take away our newly, rightfully granted rights. The Conservatives held a free vote in the House of Commons on a motion calling on the government to restore the “traditional” definition of marriage. MPs voted 175-123 against the motion. 110 of the votes in favour of the move came from Conservatives, while 13 votes came from Liberals and the NDP and Bloc Quebecois all voted against it.
With the federal election coming up on October 14, there is a lot of speculation that the Conservatives will become a majority government. If they do become a majority, they will not only be able bring same-sex marriage back to vote, but they would have the power to instate laws and make them irreversible.
So please reevaluate your leader of choice. Learn about where they stand on matters like human rights and make your vote count.
The NDP have a long history of standing up for the minority, standing up for equality and standing up for what’s right. So as I go to the polling station, I will be giving my vote to the party who is fighting not just my rights, but for everyone’s basic human rights.
I realize that I might sound a little melodramatic about the whole subject. I probably come across as prejudice myself by referring to evangelists and left wings as “these people”, but I think it illustrates how polarized our views and beliefs are. And it is something that is very personal to me. Although our society has come a long way, gay people are still treated like second-class citizens. We continue to face discrimination and hatred because of so many people’s narrow-minded views. I don’t understand how people can be against any sort of love whether it be gay or straight. If two people love each other, why does anything else matter? And on that note, I will be proudly marrying my fiance next year and I hope that one day soon, people all around the world will be able to enjoy the same right!

Photos courtesy Carlos Melendez