True Letter To The Editor

Dear Ignorance,

Andy Warhol once said, “They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” I believe that as a society, we are doing just that. People have been gathering and supporting one another for years to make a change in the way our society views a civil union. Many people believe that a marriage should stay what it has been since the time before our founding fathers: between a man and a woman. As our society becomes more open to new ideas and ways of life, many have proposed that a marriage is not defined only as a legal link between a man and a woman, but a legal link simply between two people, regardless of gender. I strongly believe that anyone should be able to marry and live happily ever after with whomever they please. The Federal Marriage Amendment, FMA, is an amendment that has been proposed to the United States Constitution regarding this exact argument. This constitutional amendment would limit marriage to one man and one woman. The FMA would also prevent marriage rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples. This amendment would basically put an end to what millions of Americans have been arguing about for years. If this amendment is passed and becomes law, it will be proof that our society is stuck in the past and expose our ignorance. Who honestly has that right to tell a person who they are and are not supposed to love and spend the rest of their life with? If people think that by having a constitutional amendment, the people of our society will all switch over to being heterosexual, they are sadly misguided. Our country has fought throughout history protecting the freedoms and rights of everyone. Thousands and thousands of men and women have lost their lives in order for the people of our country to live how they please; that not only includes not discriminating a person because of the color of her skin, but includes their personal relationships. Discriminating against a homosexual couple is no different than discriminating against a person of a different racial background. Now, our founding fathers may have not known anyone who was openly gay or a same-sex couple who was riding a horse down to the town church to wed, but nowadays, homosexuality is an accepted lifestyle. Being accepting of and allowing same-sex marriage will not hurt our society or anyone individually. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, a homosexual couple, have recently wed within that past year, and guess what, the world didn’t stop turning. Marriage is simply a union between two people who love each other and nobody should have the power to take that from anyone.