You didn't ask me, but, with every fiber of my body, I am re-committed to fight for the inherent God-given rights of my gay sisters and brothers throughout this country.The anti-gay marriage amendments that passed in Florida, California, and Arizona, along with the Arkansas measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents, are a blight on the 2008 election results.
We are allowing slim pluralities of voters in individual states to strip away basic civil and human rights. We can no longer allow that to happen.
If this was any other social movement issue we'd collectively take to the streets and demand to be heard.
It is a terrible irony that, while we celebrate the historic nature of electing an African American president, we continue to deny and deprive gay people in this country of their basic human rights.
In my mind it is the most un-Christian act possible to deny two people the means to codify and celebrate their love for each other.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, enacted on December 10, 1948, clearly spells out our inherent rights on the matter of marrying the person we love:
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
We can not sit idly by and watch this country crush the rights and the spirit of millions of our fellow citizens.
For unless we are all free none of us are truly free.
