Civil Civil Rights

I am not a violent person. I have never hit either of my children for anything during their 26 plus years of life. I have never hit any of the gaggle of people who called themselves my wife. It has been over two decades since I hit the dog that lived with me. Even then it was only because I couldn't make him see reason when it came to soiling my floors and the base of my furniture. I try not to be violent.

Yesterday I came home and almost kicked the cat. What saved the cat was that it didn't do anything wrong. However, I was angry and I needed a release, so I yelled at the television newscasters at the top of my lungs. The neighbors probably thought it’s just the hippy next door acting out again. The cat cowered under the bed wondering what it had done to get the fat guy so mad.

So what got me seething? Yesterday the President of the United States gave Robin Roberts an interview where he told the country that his position on gays and lesbians had evolved to the point where he is in favor of enabling them to marry.

Wow. Isn’t that great? He’s finally come around to seeing who people love and how they love them has nothing to do with anyone other than the people they are loving. President Obama has finally evolved to the point where he believes gays and lesbians should have the same rights and freedoms of the heterosexual community. And I’m supposed to fawn over that epiphany like I would a child who just made potty in the porta?  Do you think all that education is finally paying off?

Let me be unequivocally clear about this. Prejudice, chauvinism and bigotry are wrong in all cases. There is never a time when it is permissible to discriminate for the sex of a person, for the color of their skin or for who they love; never. Not once a year. Not once since the time of Christ. Not once in a million years. There are no rights that heterosexuals should have that homosexuals don’t have.

Everyone should know this by now. It's really not such a difficult concept. When I hear the "Leader of the Free World" say publicly, only yesterday, that his opinion evolved to the point where gays and lesbians should be allowed to get married, it makes me wonder why I ever voted for this hockey puck in the first place. Then I remember that my other choice was a rock, so I was stuck between the figurative rock and a hard place. 

If heterosexuals can marry or be united in civil unions or whatever it may be called, so can homosexuals. If two people want to share their lives so that they give each other the rights of property, medical benefits, inheritance and all that goes along with the concept of marriage, the only restriction should be that the two people be human beings. I’m still not comfortable with bestiality but a that's a conversation for another day. My opinion is still evolving.

Why isn’t the religious right yelling about the separation of church and state now? My god was talking to me the other day - between tossing quasars across a nebula - and told me specifically that he thought that all love was good. Imagine that. God told me that love can’t be bad and so, if woman want to love women or men want to love men, or transgenders want to love eunuchs or hermaphrodites, that is great. Love is the most wonderful thing in the universe and nothing should get in the way of love.

Liberal newscasters were grateful to the President for his evolved opinion. They still don’t get it. Chris Matthews, one of the great liberal minds of our time, told his audience that we shouldn't legislate against different kinds of love. ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!

There are not "different kinds of love". Love is love. It’s all the same! It is the degree that you love that makes the difference. It's like saying there are different kinds of height or mass. Distance is distance. Love is love. There are not different kinds of mass just like there are not different kinds of love. There are only things we do differently with the people we love. We take different actions but love is love!

Actions and emotions are two different things. They should not be confused or related because they are not contingent on each other. The emotion of love is the same regardless of who the object of your love is. What a person does to, and for, those they loves is different for everyone. The emotion is the same. People are all different.

Then it gets down to the legalities. If you want to own a business in my country, you have to be fair. You have to hire the person you believe is the most qualified and you can’t fire that person unless they show you that you misjudged their qualifications. You can only lay them off for fiscal reasons.

The cat has made it through another day. Unfortunately, tomorrow I could come home yelling and screaming again. Who knows how the opinion of the leader of the free world will evolve tomorrow.