By Jamie Bloomfield
To all those opposed to Marriage Equality – take note.
You feel you are being bullied? You don’t know what bullying is.
Gay people get bullied because of the way we are born.
We have been/are bullied at school, bullied at home, bullied at work, bullied in the streets.
We have been rejected/shunned by family and friends.
We have been physically, sexually, and psychologically abused or assaulted. In extreme cases some of our gay brothers and sisters have been abused to the point that – when they can no longer cope – they take their own lives.
Some of them have been murdered. Simply because they were born gay.
So you’ll excuse me when you complain of being bullied about your views on Marriage Equality and I tell you to “F#ck off!”.
You don’t know what bullying is.
We’re not bullying you. We’re standing up for ourselves … and you just don’t like it.
Tough nuts!
And as for those with a religious bent, be on notice. It is NOT about YOUR religion.
Personally, I will always accept that you have the right to practice the voodoo of your choice. I too believe in religious freedom, even though I am not a religious person.
But let me make something perfectly clear: your right to freedom of religion does not trump my human rights – especially in a secular State such as ours and especially as we are seeking only to change civil marriage, not religious marriage. You can keep that for yourselves.
Besides, the Church cannot claim ownership of marriage. It predates religion and it wasn’t until the 12th century that the Roman Catholic Church defined marriage as a sacrament sanctioned by God.
And stop conflating the issue. It is about Marriage Equality. Nothing else. Breeding is a completely separate issue. Not everyone wants to have children. Not everyone is capable of having children.
Marriage – gay or straight – only affects two people: those being wedded. So really, it is no-one else’s business but theirs.
The issue of Marriage Equality is today’s equivalent of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
It’s about love, recognition, respect, inclusion and the end of discrimination.
And be on notice – it WILL happen – with or without you.
Because love always trumps hate.
