when i was in Trinidad i was one the disenfranchised. i mean, i had the ability to vote, but i didn`t think it was worth it, it was six of one and half dozen of the other. but i did go to the polls, because if i didn`t i had no right to complain about the people that were supposed to represent me. since 1990, i voted in every local and general election that was held, the last couple of times i put `none of the above` on the ballot making it useless.
where is the irony in that you ask? here i am and worried, almost to the point of paranoia that i don`t have a voice. i can`t vote, i can`t affect change. i don`t have the right. by this time next week, i`ll be employed and a tax payer, but i`m not a citizen and i have no voting rights.
during the week of July 12 the senate is voting on the Federal Marriage Amendment, which states: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any state, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman”
according to my mother in law, i should pick the fights i know i can win, but that`s never been my MO. i know that the world isn`t black and white, there are things i`m willing to let slide, because i know no matter how had i try there`s never going to be a change, but there are some things that are so fundamentally wrong, that silence just compounds it. i felt that way about what was going on here on journalspace, so i spoke up, i feel the same way about gay marriage.
i do have an axe to grind, no i`m not gay, but the same arguments that are being used to oppose gay marriage; up until quite recently in some states; are the same arguments that would have made my marriage to vic illegal. that`s right, think on that for a moment, if i`m not mistaken the miscegenation statues were not removed from the state law of MS until 2000. i have gay friends, i`ve been to a commitment ceremony, what makes their dedication to each other and their desire to have it recognised any different from any of us?
this act is just one of the many pieces of legislation that scare me and the thing that scares me most is i have no recourse. i have to live with it for the sake of my love and my overall happiness.
what i`m really trying to do is encourage those who have the power to do something. now. in November. whenever you can. do something!
