Guess we'll see...

This week in Utah, our Governor announced his support of same-sex civil unions. You all know my position on the issue, so I was thrilled. While a lot of people agree with his position, there are plenty of others who are shocked and outraged (just reading some of the comments attached to the article makes my blood boil), calling him a liar and a terrorist (what terrorism has to do with this issue is completely beyond me, but I guess that's an Obama reference...ignorant people...).

Even though I do not agree with it at all, I do understand the argument against gay marriage--having been raised in a very religious home, I see how people feel the need to protect what they feel is the sanctity of marriage. But what's the deal with civil unions? Even the LDS church supports providing homosexuals with the same medical, employment and housing rights that heterosexual couples enjoy. So this leads me to believe that these people who are so enraged by the prospect of civil unions are simply ignorant enough to only consider the issue in terms of its morality as opposed to thinking about it in terms of the people it affects. It's a lot easier to be filled with hate and loathing when you remove the humanity of an issue.

So why is this? Thinking back on my own journey, the moment it all changed for me was when my best friend came out. Now, I had always been accepting of people's right to do what they wanted with their lives as long as it wasn't hurting anyone else--but I was definitely of the opinion that being gay was a big moral no-no. I really hate admitting that. But then my friend came out, and it forced me to completely re-evaluate my whole philosophy. I had never been close with anyone who was gay...and then here was my friend, this amazingly awesome person...telling me that this was who he is. It was NOT something he'd become, it was who he'd always been. And that totally destroyed all my previous feelings on the issue, because I knew that if my friend was (and still is) SUCH a good person, how could his entire identity be bad? It didn't add up, it didn't work...so it forced me to open my eyes and see that what I'd thought was morally right was really just refusing to look at the issue outside of the box my religion had put it in. I'm not saying all religions promote discrimination against homosexuals (again, the LDS church does promote tolerance...in its own way), but I feel they take the human element out of the equation. I do think that is definitely a major factor in people feeling the way they do, and being so angry about it.

Thanks to Prop 8, in the past year I have had numerous discussions (and in some cases, heated arguments--only when attacked, though) with several people, and something I always ask is if they know anyone who's gay. It's interesting to see how their philosophy is affected by who they know and how well they know them. Some people are going to keep their mind firmly closed no matter who they know, even if it's their own gay sibling. But usually, the better someone knows a gay person, the more open (and in my opinion, reasonable) they are to the idea of gay marriage, or at least civil unions.

Another friend of mine recently came out. In high school, this guy was incredibly well-liked and popular: he was on student council, he was in the choir, he was in plays (how did I not know he was gay, right?? hehe)...everybody knew him, even if they weren't BFFs w/him. I e-mailed him after I found out to let him know that I'm (as he put it) "gay friendly." He wrote me back and told me how many people have criticized him for "finally accepting and being proud" of who he's always been. That makes me sad for him, but I also hope that because he's such a cool guy and that so many people love him, maybe this will help some of those people see that being gay isn't a bad thing, and that civil unions are NOT the end of the world...and then perhaps those people will do their part to help other people see...and so on.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the issue. I don't know if we'll see change any time soon, but I think it's awesome that the Governor took a stand (and I hope it wasn't just because there's some silly boycott against Utah) and hopefully it will lead to better things down the road. :-)