thelesbianlifestyle.com

Lectori Salutem! or L.S. (Greetings to the Reader!)

Before you read this know I am a great supporter of the institution of marriage as I grew up in a family of only a few divorces (I can count on one hand) among all my cousins and second cousins, Aunts and Uncles. Oh, and this will be a three part-er so as not to be overwhelmingly long. See Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

PART THREE: The Early 1900’s to Today

We all know the cry of our opponents. GAY MARRIAGE will destroy the very fabric of American society. The problem is, this cry has been used many times in the past an America has grown and become a better, more diverse, evolved nation because of the changes we have endured at the cries of stupidity from an unenlightened chorus who is part of “ who those neglect to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it” which is why every 40 years or so they brush off their posters and with the same old and tiered excuses for trying to stop progress. All we have to do is look across the pond to our older brothers and sisters in England and France, Italy and even Spain to know where our future humanity lies. Acceptance is the answer and no fabric was torn from anyone’s fabulous Bagly Mischka or Donna Karan outfit and our AIDS Quilt will never be broken. It stands as a testament of what we are made of. Throw a horrible virus at us and we come together like no group has ever seen to take care of our own, recruit help from anyone, be silent no more (Silent=Death), and make it through as we still fight for every person gay or straight stricken with this horrible disease we call AIDS. SO, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT YOUR TELLS OF THE DEMISE OF CIVILIZATION IN JUST THE LAST 80 YEARS!!!!!

In the 1930’s, one of the first public cries began for the destruction of the family and the end of family values as we know it, much in the same manner as public leaders are pleading the case against gay marriage today. The BIG OFFENSE of the day – THE INVENTION AND MASS MARKETING OF THE CAR. It gave the young people of the day the opportunity to begin going on dates out of view of their parents, no longer chaperoned. Soon after the US Supreme Court would knock down the last law banning the use of contraception thus making it legal in all 50 states turning the tide on marrying to start to family immediately or even the idea of GOD FORBID premarital sex. The end of the ban on contraception may not seem important to the American public but to the gay community it marks the second and last hurdle to the definition marriage that had previously excluded them – marriage exists for the purpose of procreation. This definition no longer applied. In addition, the Protestant Church revised its ideas on divorce. Previously divorce could only occur if infidelity or attempted murder had occurred. After the 1930’s, marriage was defined as being in love and if you were no longer in love then you were granted a divorce. This more liberal policy should have helped the cause of gay marriage since most heterosexual couples had no longer attached the holy sacrament of forever (except the Catholic Church) to marital unions.

The next big trial over the destruction of the family and the disintegration of the fabric of society came during the civil rights movement. IN FACT, I promised those last laws against women that existed just 70 and 80 years ago. In as late as 1930, some states had left the age of consent for marriage to be 14 for boys and 12 for girls; as late as 1940 married women could not enter into contracts; and the case I am discussing below did not strike down all miscegenation laws until 1967 (mixed races could be arrested for marrying). After slavery ended, many states had enacted laws that outlawed marriage between races calling own God’s holy law as justification for this abomination. Most of these laws had slowly fallen to the wayside through the sixties until a Mr. and Mrs. Loving of Virginia, a white man and black woman, fell in love and got married. The only problem was they lived in Virginia who had one of these anti-race mixing laws so they went across the border to a neighboring state with more liberal laws to get married. One night at home in Virginia they wee awakened from their beds, arrested and taken to jail. The judge sentenced them to a year in jail or a 25-year banishment from the state of Virginia. They took the banishment but fought the ruling for years until it finally ended up before the Supreme Court.

In an eerily familiar argument, Virginia lawyers argued that God had placed man on the continents as separate races and that he had not intended for them to mix. God had only intended each race to marry the other and by abolishing the law the Supreme Court would be declaring war on the family and marking an end to society as we know it. Luckily, the High Court finally had enough of this biased and hateful argument and ruled that all men are created equal and had an equal right to marry under the law. So, as you can see, marriage has gone through a big metamorphosis over the last 3000 years, none of which has destroyed the fabric of society as the Christian Conservatives seem to serve up in every speech. It makes you wonder where these people were during their history lessons. Surely I am not the first one to point out their hypocrisy?

Clearly there are many documents with plenty of examples (I have used just a few) to illustrate how marriage has changed and improved over the years and those who stand by some ill-informed idea that it is an unchanging institution with an unchanging definition have obviously not even read up on the history of the development of their own religion through time. I would call that ignorance but that is a kind word used to mean “lack of knowledge or information”. These people hide behind the facts and are simply deaf, dumb and blind to the truth of the world that exists in history books from just American History well documented in the last 400 years. To try to hide your head in the sand and use a loving God who preached tolerance and nothing about the definition of marriage will certainly be dealt the balance of universe I believe exists. HATE breeds hate and knowledge and truth can be a great shield to the dumbstruck. The facts are our moment comes… the answer of when is out of our hands. BELIEVE IN THE TRUTH. Thanks for getting through all of this with me for those of you that read through to the end. I needed to get this out for some time. It’s too bad so few people will read it!!!!

Much Love.

Inspired by Sappho’s Muse

QUOTES OF THE DAY
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.”
Thomas Jefferson