All for equality I ramble

Because we're all human.

Credit to A Bicycle Built for Two

Marriage is a man-made institution, that much we know. And yet many still yearn for the stability and the sense of safety brought about by having someone, a spouse and a partner, who's got your back, to put it mildly. To some, marriage, represents the pinnacle of their love's consummation. To bind yourself to another person for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, in toothpaste caps left open, and in soiled clothes dumped in a messy heap by the hamper, takes a lot of courage and devotion.

To take the plunge of marriage is to set off to seas of contingencies unknown. Both parties realize it's not going to be a walk in the park and the opportunities to stop and smell the roses will be few and far in between. And yet, we still hunger to be part of an institution so fragile. It's a human need to love and be loved. And marriage, the binding, the promise, the vow to be together come hell or high water, seems to be the next natural thing to do. So what's all the fuss? Love is love regardless of who is loving who.

To hamper an individual's right to marriage because of his or her sexual preference is similar to a DOS attack. In a denial-of-service attack, an attacker attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services. By targeting your computer and its network connection, or the computers and network of the sites you are trying use, an attacker may be able to prevent you from accessing e-mail, websites, online accounts or other services that rely on the affected computer. Pardon the comparison but the parallelism, for me, is uncanny. Denial of service. Denial of access. Denial of the right to express our love. To deny a person her right to happiness is the ultimate oppression, deprived of access to love, to care, to the right to be by her partner's side in times of sickness, and a myriad of things that heterosexual partnerships enjoy. How can another human being be so cruel as to deprive another of the most basic need to feel and express that feeling?

When we fight for our right to marry or strike a domestic partnership to the one we love, we are merely expressing our devotion. In no way are we trying to taint the sanctity of your own heterosexual union. In fact, we are happy you've found a love so special some people only dream of having and one that people fight long and hard for. Simply put, and as cheesy as it may seem, we just want to be happy with the woman in our life. To live and to let live.

Bear this in mind: Just because we are women who love women or men who love men does not make us subhuman, it does not make our love less legitimate, less pure, unfit to be recognized.