Imagine......

The title of this post is imagine because I want you to imagine a few things with me. I'm sorta vamping here so it might be a short post or it might be a rather long post. This blog will probably be a little touchy but that's why it's called Unmentionables. When I first thought of the starting points of this blog, I thought about the song, "Imagine" by John Lennon which has a line that says, "Imagine no religion too." Sounds horrible doesn't it? The truth is that it does even to me. Religion has a place in this world but ruling it isn't it. Before you argue, the song speaks of quite a few things that if we could just imagine without and I think the main thing is that the song talks about the things that divide us. Not only those things that divide us but the things that we allow to divide us -- religion being one and politics being another.

Imagine (Straight, Married People).....

That your marriage was invalid or that you couldn't get married. What would it feel like if you could only get married in a handful of states? What if only those involved in homosexual relationships could marry and they begrudgingly allowed those of you in heterosexual marriages to get married but only if was put to a popular vote -- a popular vote among a largely homosexual population? What if the homosexuals kept saying no because you'll pro-create? because you're unnatural? because their God says so (which is the only God, by the way) even though they can't prove it and even if they could - they conveniently forget the other laws in the Bible? Have you imagined that?

Imagine (Black people).....

That your ancestors didn't fight the way that they did for their freedoms. Think about what you have today -- homes, children (that you choose to have), political office, being considered a whole person (or even being counted for that matter), choosing where you work and what you do for a living, going to school for that higher education and basically the right to be who you are with who you want to be. All of this could be wiped away if it hadn't been for your ancestors choosing to fight and their allies fighting with them. Now what if it was your rights on display? What if you wanted to marry? What if the politicians answer was let's put it up to a popular vote -- among a largely white population (obviously if we are voting on you're ability to marry then you can't vote). Does that make you mad? It should. It was all a reality at one point in time. But, for whatever reason, you are content with doing that to gay people. You are okay with denying gay people every single right that you have. So imagine what it would be like to want something but have to go through the majority to get it. You shouldn't have to imagine too long because it really wasn't that long ago. For those of you in an interracial relationship, it was less than 50 years ago and yet, here you are willing to impose the same narrow view that was imposed on you just a short 5 decades ago. Imagine if Loving hadn't filed suit against The Commonwealth of Virginia.

Imagine (Christian folk).....

That there was no religion or what religion you had was banned or you could be killed for possessing contraband items or worse yet, just simply refusing to say, "I'll believe your way." and, of course, you'd have to mean it with conviction (even if you didn't really mean it). You'd have to imagine a little further but still reading good book on history will remind you that at one point in time, in England (before American was a blip on the screen), that's what happened. A new king (or queen) would assume the throne and the religion of the court would change and the monarchy would send out people to convert those heathens to the correct religion even if it meant killing them. Some of you might even be surprised to learn that America was founded on principles to avoid this from happening. You see - the founding fathers knew that government and religion wasn't a good mix and it still isn't today. Some of you might even be thinking we would never do that to people in America but are you sure? How many gays, blacks and whites have died because of religion? Does the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 ring a bell? No? How about slavery? Still nothing? How about interracial relationships? If you are having a hard time, let me help you - religion - religion was the root of all of this evil. The Bible and even God's name was invoked to keep witches burning at the stake, blacks in chains and the races separated. Equal but separate....sounds familiar doesn't it?

This country was started in 1620 or well at least that's when the first settlers landed and wanted to start a new world free of British rule and state imposed religion. Now here it is almost 400 years later and we are still living the same nightmare over and over again. We, as a nation, have failed to learn our lessons and for that - we are repeating history.

Finally, I leave you with - Imagine.....

Imagine someone saying that you had to live your life in a way that made them happy. Your happiness isn't considered, needed or wanted. Imagine how that would make you feel. Less than fingernail dirt (thanks M for this phrase)? Less deserving of someone else's love? Less deserving of the life that you have? Now imagine the things you do to make someone else feel that way. Granted, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent but imagine that there are some people who simply aren't that strong and then imagine if you were one of them.

Ouiser

It gets better?

So I am scanning my Facebook news feed for interesting information that might be worth reading in the near future. I say near future because more than likely, I'll click on the link that brings up the page and then put it aside because I'm at work and then forget why I was reading the article. I think that comes with the family bonds; although, who's to say? My Mother and Grandmother are/were notoriously forgetful. But my fiancee (yes, Ouiser is getting married) calls it selective memory. I'm guessing it's the ugly stepsister of selective hearing.

Anyway, the title of the blog is asking, "Does it get better?". To that I say that YES! It gets better for a good number of you anyway. The more you age, the more you realize that what most people think isn't really all that important. I say most people because there are a few people that tell me things and it's important that I listen to them. They would steer me wrong if they thought there was something funny that could come out of it but wouldn't hurt me. But I digress.....

I suppose you want to know why I question if it gets better or not. The reason for that is a state like Michigan who has passed an anti-bully law which tells you that you cannot bully anyone - unless you are religious. Of course, the law doesn't specifically mention Christianity or Gay people but it only takes about 3.0125 seconds to put the two together. More or less, a person may continue to bully a person provided that he/she does it only from the deep seeded love that only Jesus provides. Strangely enough, I can't imagine this being a quality that makes you Christ-like which I believe is the one sole virtue of being a Christian.

Then there is Tennessee, which makes Michigan seem a little sad (but that doesn't give Michigan any special "See? Someone is worse than us" privileges), which here lately has just been mean for sport. Again, most everything done against gay people is for the love of Christ and again, I have yet to see the love of Christ. Tennessee has either passed or attempted to pass the following:

"Don't say Gay" bill - this bill would tie the hands of any government employee from assisting a gay student or person with information about being gay or where that person can seek help. I believe this one has failed to pass both chambers of government.

"Equal Access to Interstate Commerce Act" - this act basically looks benign but what it does is tell the local/city/county governments that they aren't permitted to offer any non-discrimination policies beyond what the state offers. Since the state offers nothing in this area then no one else may offer these policies in Tennessee. Nashville had offered these policies but the bill invalidated those. So, more or less, you can fire or choose not to hire someone because they are gay.

"HB 1153" - Like Michigan, this bill allows someone to continue bullying another person provided it's religious in nature. Never mind that federal law prohibits someone from having a "captive audience" for their religious needs. A person may talk about religion in school but no one is required to sit and listen to it.

And finally Rhea County, Tennessee - the home of the infamous Scopes trial - tried to ban homosexuals from living in their county. It was decided that, "We need to keep them out of here.". The idea being that the county could charge homosexuals with "Crimes against Nature". It was unanimously passed but oddly enough, nearly all the county commissioners who voted for that bill either decided not to seek re-election or were voted out of office.

Now, I'm no rocket scientist and I'm sure a majority of you aren't either which means it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that none of the items mentioned above are Christ like. Hell, compared to all of those items, *I'm* more "Christ-like) than some Christians. Which, if you know me personally, that's saying something. No, I'm not evil (C, stop laughing) but I'm not your rose colored glasses kinda person either.

So, will it get better? Yes, for most of you, most definitely. But then some of you will still be just evil (I wrote pure evil but I don't believe in a source of pure evil) and working that tired Christian drag for all its worth. This quote seems oddly in touch with this blog:

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things - that takes religion." ~ Steven Weinberg

More reasons I choose not to call myself a Christian. After all, I couldn't stoop to the level of some of those that call themselves "Christ-like".

The War on Christmas

I figured this topic deserved its own blog post. I saw yet another random, in all caps no less, status on Facebook stating that they didn't care who they offend. It went a little something like this:

I DO NOT CARE IF THIS DOES OFFEND SOMEONE…THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE…I AM SICK AND TIRED OF EVERY YEAR WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES AROUND; THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TAKE CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS BECAUSE IT MIGHT OFFEND SOMEONE…WELL, HOW ABOUT ALL OF THE CHRISTIANS?...WHAT ABOUT OFFENDING US BECAUSE YOU ARE TAKING OUR CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS?...CHRIST IS CHRISTMAS!...IF YOU AREN'T CELEBRATING CHRIST THEN WHY ARE YOU CELEBRATING?...CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOR!...CHRISTMAS IS ONE OF A FEW HOLIDAYS LEFT THAT CELEBRATE "MY" CHRIST!...LEAVE "MY" HOLIDAY ALONE!...AND TELL EVERYONE MERRY CHRISTMAS, NOT HAPPY HOLIDAYS!...RE-POST IF YOU’RE NOT ASHAMED....


First, let me just state that I am happy for this person. It's my hope that this has been repeated by so many people that no one really knows who I am talking about (just so I don't have to see it). Furthermore, it's not important on who it is. But as the person above stated, I'm sick and tired of this same mantra every year.


Second, It's not your holiday. Christmas has co-opted other religion's holy days. There are bits and pieces of every religion within Christmas. Christianity isn't the only religion that has a miraculous birth with a savior that is coming to save mankind from themselves. It's not the only religion that demands you follow their god and only their god to get into their version of heaven. It's not even the only Abrahamic religion or religion that includes Abraham as its founding father. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if there is any part of Christianity that's original except the War on Christmas thing. 


Third, Pagans celebrate Yule, some Blacks celebrate Kwanzaa, Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah (Festival of Lights) and some people have blended religions in their family so they celebrate the Holidays. Christians do not have a monopoly on what happens at this time of year, so if someone wants to celebrate the winter solstice then they don't need your permission - there is no trademark. There's evidence that Jesus wasn't even born on this day or this season and further evidence that suggests that in an attempt to get the Pagans to transfer to the new religion (Christianity) easier and more quickly, the Christians (of the time) choose this date for it's proximity to the Pagan festival of Yule. Rumor has it there was penalty of death if they didn't convert but that's another matter altogether.


Fourth, no one and I repeat NO ONE is taking your Christ out of Christmas. The only person that can do that is YOU. I say this because your religious choice is just that - a choice. Provided that Christmas still means the celebration of Christ's birth to you then that is what it shall mean. The moment you stop remembering that it celebrates Christ's birth is the moment it ceases to be so for you but someone else may still consider it that way; therefore, it's still a celebration of Christ's birth to them.


Finally, Christians have been offending people for as long as I can remember. So perhaps it is time you were offended. But there is nothing offensive about celebrating Kwanzaa, Yule, Winter Solstice, Christmas or just the Holidays. It's not even offensive that you scream about this same crap year after year with no results but it is annoying. When will you all understand that your religion is about you and what you believe - not the world at large. It's all about what you understand and hold dear in your heart. Christ hasn't been taken out of Christmas unless you allow it to happen in your heart, mind and soul. Until then, Christ will always be in Christmas.


Shout Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Yule, Merry Solstice, Happy Holidays or Happy Hanukkah. If someone greets you with something other than what you believe the time to be just nod your head and give your greeting. Smile knowing that you've wished someone Love during this Holiday season. As Cruella DeVil once said, "Is it difficult?".


Instead of seeing offense where none are meant, how about just celebrating the season in your time, in your way. Understand that by using the phrase "Happy Holidays" it's someone just wanting to be inclusive because they do not know what the other person celebrates. They aren't trying to be offensive. But as I said above, if you want to say Merry Christmas then do it and don't be offended or upset because someone give a greeting for another holiday celebrated during this time.


I'm sure you people mean well but I am seriously having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit with your incessant yammering going on about The War on Christmas.

Merry Christmas? Merry Xmas? Happy Holidays?

I figure most of you know I'm talking about the end of the year holidays and everything that comes with them. Thanksgiving is a little over a week away then Christmas will be a month later with New Year's Eve being one week after that.

I actually like this time of year because it appears that most people are in a helpful mood (except at Black Friday sales then all bets are off). I like Christmas music but I can't say the same for the other holidays at this time because I have never listened to music specifically for that holiday. I'm not a big fan of people or their cheerfulness that often but something about this time of year seems okay.

But do you want to know what I truly despise about this time of year? The annual War on Christmas! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the War of Christmas. Nothing is more annoying than to hear people scream as loud as they can (or from posts on Facebook or Twitter or Google+) that they are keeping the Christ in Christmas - Who's with me?

First, let me explain, putting Christ in Christmas does about as much good for Christmas as putting a screen door on a submarine does for the submarine.

Second, Christmas is, more or less, a commercial event these days. I buy gifts for a handful of people (added a new one this year! He knows who he is...) and give them out then I'm done. I do have this strange idea to give handmade gifts one year but I'd have to practically start now for Christmas 2012 and even then I think I'm being conservative about the time it would take. But that is not the only strange idea I have at the moment. So that you don't think my train of thought has derailed, I won't talk about the other ideas.

Lastly, a heard a phrase that I liked, it said, "I'll put the Christ back in Christmas when you put the Christ back in Christian - You first." To some degree the statement is true in that not all who call themselves Christians are actually Christians. Then, of course, if you want people to see that Christmas is really about Christ and his birth then put the Christ back in Christian and show us all what it really means. The burden of proof is on Christians for this one for they are the ones who demand that people believe they are the true way.

I had an epiphany about Christmas and that was I really just don't care anymore. I would love for a store to be open when I get bored and want something else to do even if I don't intend on purchasing items. Thankfully, my new area has three Chinese restaurants which will probably be open. If nothing else, I can enjoy a dish of dog balls covered in cat spit (admit it, you were thinking it too or in some other variation).

For what it's worth, I had an epiphany about my job too. I learned that I really didn't want a job - I just wanted a paycheck.

Furthermore, has it really come down to this? An annual naughty or nice list of businesses, based on the number of times, that have used the word Christmas in advertising? I've wondered if a business could boost their chances of being on the nice list just by saying Christmas in their advertisements over and over again even though they were an adult store.

I have seen these little posts that talk about how saying Christmas would be taboo soon and I don't think that's true. Besides, what is wrong with saying Merry Christmas to someone that wishes you a Happy Kwanzaa? I generally repeat back whatever the person says to me because it's not worth the time to say anything else. If someone says Happy Holidays and you want to wish them a Merry Christmas then do so - there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. If that person gets upset then they are no better than the Christians who demand Christmas instead of Xmas.

This holiday season, live and let live - within reason. Understand that this hatred and annoyance over a word simply isn't worth it in the end.

OUISER

Organized Religion, Part 2! Who knew?

I had this crazy idea to write a post about various quotes made by various people who want to run this country into the ground with organized religion. I even titled the post, "You're killing me, Smalls!" Yes, the person that said that to me knows who she is and well would be offended if she wasn't brought up in my blog from time to time. But then I didn't realize until today that I would live through my post on organized religion. How? You ask. Well read that post by clicking here. Pay close attention to the options mentioned at the bottom about gay people and their lives. Take time to read number four.

This post is titled in this matter because I had said my peace on the matter and had no intentions of writing a second part to it. I don't intend on this blog to be vulgar or mean. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The reality is that by creating my blog and writing about the things that I am passionate about - I am hoping that people will recognize their behavior and control it better than they do now or eliminate it all together. But like forest fires, only YOU can control it.

I was thinking about going home during my vacation time in October but I mentioned the most horrible thing in the world - I wanted to bring my boyfriend with me. I wanted him to see my hometown and I wanted him to watch trains, down at the Folkston Funnel, with me. We could go to the Okefenokee Swamp late in the afternoon and watch the sun set from the tower. I had a plane ticket that I could use without charge and I even have certificates to make the hotel stay free. All I needed was a car rental and a plane ticket for him.

This trip has been put off indefinitely. Maybe someone out there is asking themselves why I would do that and well the answer is that I have been told I shouldn't force THAT on them. I've been reduced to a THAT. It sorta makes you feel like you aren't even a person anymore. Sort of like a slave that was three-fifths of a person - it took five slaves to make three people. Anywho, for those who don't like to click on links, this is the specific reference that I wanted you to read:

4. Find out what it was like for them to be told by their partner that he/she was invited to a family get together but only if they left their partner at home. He/She wasn't invited. Find out the pain inflicted on your partner because, while he/she wants to spend time with family, he/she refused to leave you home alone.


While I don't have to get a invitation to come home, it was put plainly that by bringing him, I would be forcing THAT on them. Although, in reality, he could have come but I couldn't expect to visit with everyone because not everyone would have been happy to see my new boyfriend. Sure, there would have been some who don't care and to those, I thank you.


Unfortunately, for me, I generally pick the worst times to talk about what's bothering me. This time was no exception - it was in a restaurant. No, I didn't break down into tears and I don't become obnoxiously loud but a seething anger did rise to the surface. Once I started talking about it, I couldn't keep the anger out of my voice. It wasn't directed at him and since he still comes around to see me - I'm sure he knows that. 


Being the gentleman that he is - he suggested that I go on home and visit with family - he would be here when I returned. But I have questions that need answers:


1. If I go home without him, When do I stand up for myself?
2. When do I tell others that it's not okay to treat others like they're lower than fingernail dirt?
3. When do I say, "Suck it up! He's part of my life and you'll have to see us both or no one at all."?
4. How many people must die before people will understand that their hateful rhetoric is hurting people?


I was told that the Bible tells them so. The Bible doesn't say that and there is debate that what verse people point to in Leviticus isn't actually what was written. Even if it does mean that - why do we ignore the other rules nearby? The Bible does say that you may stone your children for sassing you. The Bible does say that a man may marry more than one woman. The Bible does say that slavery is okay. The Bible does say that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they were fat and lazy and refused to help those in need. The Bible says a lot of things and we simply choose to ignore those verses.


What do you guy(s) think? Leave a comment - tell me how great I am or that I'm full of shit.


One last question and you should be honest with yourself: 


Why must it be this way?


Respectfully submitted,


Ouiser

Comcast Sucks ..... Sometimes!

I rarely have a complaint about Comcast because generally their service is quite reliable. But when they mess up or starting sucking, they suck big time. I will tell you my little story of how Comcast sucks.


About 3:00pm, on Monday, August 8th, on of their employees was outside tinkering with the poles that provide Comcast service. This employee disconnected my service in error but at the time of the outage, I was not aware of this. So I called Comcast for a little assistance and they tried everything or well, at least, I think everything because the employee and I had a small communication issue. The customer service person told me the best they could do is Friday, August 12th which I told him that would never work - if I had no internet, then I don't get paid and neither does Comcast. Miraculously, a "cancellation" appeared on Wednesday, August 10th. This time the agent said he couldn't get any better than that. I accepted that but he suggested I call periodically to see if anything opens up. So I called about 5 hours later to ask if anything new opened up. Not yet and I don't even want to get into the soothing (placating) voice woman who attempted to sell me Disney Movie Channels when my service was off. She tried hard too! Asked me if I had children or my nieces or nephews.


The next morning I called to check to see if anything opened up and nothing had opened yet. So I am talking with the hag and my neighbor says hello to me, so I say hello back and he starts up a conversation. During this time, I asked did he have Comcast and was it working. He confirmed that he did and that it was working. So it must be just me. He then said that there was a Comcast employee tinkering with the poles in the back yesterday about 3:00pm - which was about the time my service went out. So, at the urging of the hag, I called Comcast and explained that their employee had disconnected my service and that I want someone out here today as soon as possible to correct their error. This fucking cunt tells me that the best she can do is tomorrow, August 10th, between 1 - 4pm. I told her I already had an appointment earlier in the day for August 10th. The FC then asks, "Would you like me to call local dispatch and see if they have anything available?" I told her I would appreciate that and she said let me put you on hold for a few moments. The FC then comes back and says, "Will today between 2 - 5pm be okay for you?" I confirmed that I would be home and she says just one moment and puts me back on hold. She comes back and says, "Let me just get this confirmation in there and it's all set. Is there anything else I can do for you?" The back of my mind was screaming get the confirmation number but I told her everything was good and thanked the FC for getting that appointment for me. So I go to my house at 1:45pm and wait until about 4:15pm. Then I call Comcast.....and that's where the sucking vortex known as Comcast customer service kicks in. The customer service guy explains to me that there is no appointment for today at all and that my appointment is on August 10th between 1 - 4pm. He further explains that they have no way to call local dispatch to ask those kinds of questions. Oh, and he tells me I was misinformed! No. Your useless cunt of an agent outright lied to me. Misinformed is where you may have it slightly wrong. So, this fucking cunt not only lies to me about an appointment but also switches me from my August 10th, 10am - 1pm appointment to an August 10th, 1 - 4pm appointment. Do you see why she's a fucking cunt?


I attempted to call home office but they were already closed.


So I call back to Comcast and ask to speak to a supervisor. I got Gary, the Floor Supervisor, who wasn't much better help than the customer service people, to which, I had already spoken. He explains to me that my earlier appointment on August 10th was cancelled by their automated system because they had declared an outage in the area and the system automatically assumes that all service calls are because of the outage. He then proceeded to apologize profusely (never mind that I had already told him I am sick of the apologies as they don't mean squat since their employee disconnected my service in error and one of your reps (i.e. the fucking cunt) outright lied to me) and offered me a $20 credit on my next bill. $20! While I don't expect Comcast to make up the funds that I lost due to their stupidity, I do expect a little more than $20.


To add a little more insult to injury, the technician arrives on Wednesday at about 2:15pm, goes straight to the service pole, corrects the problem and then calls me on the phone to say you are right, our technician disconnected your service in error, please verify your services now work. HE DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING COME INSIDE!!


The problem really is that Comcast has no REAL competition out here. AT&T U-Verse is in the area but since their service arrives in the area on fiber optic cable but then flows into your house through your phone lines........My house is about 75 years old, so the phone lines are most likely useless. U-Verse even has some great things about it except that modem/router they give you will work for a while wirelessly but then that stops and you must hook directly into the modem/router to get the speeds you pay for. So, while Comcast isn't a TRUE monopoly, they are a monopoly nonetheless.


As the title suggests, Comcast sucks - sometimes and when they do, it's like they have a team in the Sucky Olympics to see which employees can qualify to suck and which can apologize the hardest without actually doing anything.

Gay Marriage: Why Organized Religion doesn't Work for me

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I am gay and that's okay - with me, of course. Admittedly, I really don't care what anyone else thinks about it solely for the fact that I have to live this life, not you or anyone else for that matter. You can read about that if you click here. So, as the title suggests, this particular post goes on about marriage.

Heterosexual marriage, Opposite marriage, Homosexual marriage, Same-Sex marriage - do we really need all these names for marriage? Can't we just say that Ouiser is married and let it go? Why do we have the need to verify, to all who can hear, what marriage that person is involved in?

Now I like to read a blog from Canada and while I rarely comment on it because most of the people have already said what I would have said. You can read her blog here, specifically her take on gay marriage and how (I could be wrong) it appears all industrialized nations laugh at us for being so stupid to inflict and allow harm to others due to our limited - yet personal - views on religion.

Two of the biggest arguments about gay marriage is that it's forbidden in the Bible and it'll ruin the sanctity of marriage. For the first one, your religious preferences have no place in our government. As a secular government, it must remain neutral to religion or the lack thereof. For you see, both are personal choices made by you. While one can argue that you were called to that religion or one could argue that there is no proof to support religion, it doesn't matter. Neither one belongs in government. The government is a necessary evil meant to protect us all from harm not only a select few. I find it interesting that we tiptoe around religion like it's a sacred artifact. Perhaps to you, it's sacred, but when you throw you and your religion out on the political stage, expect to be ridiculed. You can't say your peace and then expect the rest of us not to say anything at all. That would be like a girl hitting a boy and then saying, "I'm a girl and you can't hit me." but she put herself in a man's place; therefore, she accepts all that is coming.

For the second, and I've asked this question before, what are you saving marriage from? Surely, it's not the 50% divorce rate. Then again, if you allowed gays to be married, you would be adding more to the pool so the divorce rate would, in theory, go down but that is a probability problem for another day.

Procreation? No, that can't be it. After all, we allow single parents to have kids and adopt kids. We certainly don't terminate a parent's right to their children because they divorce. We also don't require you to sign a legal contract to have children, if you want to be married.

Because children need a mother and a father? No, that's not right either. For the same reasons listed above. What if that mother never dates again or remarries - she raises them on her own and that's quite hard but she still keeps her children.

It'll cause divorce when people turn gay? Not really but it wouldn't surprise me if a few people left their spouses to pursue their feelings they never acted on earlier. Even if you could point to that, the numbers won't be high enough to make a big deal out of it. Furthermore, that person didn't actually turn gay. They were gay their entire lives and are just now acting out on it.

Churches will be forced to marry people they don't like? No, we all know that isn't the case. Churches will turn down people to marry them solely for not being a member or because they don't want too. Nothing about this will change regardless of what others might lead you to believe.

Marriage is a religious institution? Technically, yes. Marriage has been a religious institution but government has its claws in it. So, if you want to say that it's a religious institution then government must revoke any and all tax benefits associated with the union. All those little extras some of you get in refunds or tax savings every year would simply go away. After all, government must remain neutral to all forms of religion or non-religion. But if you call it a government institution, then everyone should be included because again, government is meant to protect us all not just a few. This means the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) would have to go away. You can't have it both ways. Remember that DOMA was created to make the religious right feel better about themselves - not to mention sleep better at night knowing those pesky gays can't be like them.  I believe it was required to be passed in order to avoid holding up other legislation.

I don't understand all that goes on with religion and why people believe the rest of us should be inflicted with their personal choice. It reminds me of something I heard and can't quite remember where or perhaps I made it up for the giggles.....who knows? The speaker wanted to know why does every one else have to suffer with their obvious bad taste and lack of maturity. While religious choice isn't in bad taste or lack of maturity, I can make an argument for both. There are, of course, always exceptions to the rule but sadly those are exceptions not the norm.

So, in the end, it has to be one way or the other. You either keep it as a religious institution and lose some benefits that the government gives for being married or you release that notion and allow all others to join the union. I suppose that it could stay the way it is now and I certainly hope you'll feel better about yourself in the end.

If you think that there's nothing wrong with the status quo then perhaps you should do one of the following (your choice, pick one):

1. Spend time with a gay person at the deathbed of their dying partner. Ask them what is going to happen to them when their partner dies. Actually listen to their answer.

2. Watch as a gay person is rejected while attempting to spend time with their partner. The hospital says that only family is allowed to be in the room. Since you aren't married, you can't go in.

3. Ask this same gay person what they are feeling as they read the note from their partner's family attorney telling them that they cannot attend their partner's funeral because that family doesn't want them there. That their partner's family denies them access to their home because, they aren't married, so everything in the partner's home (including the home) goes to next of kin. Find out what it's like to be kicked to the curb because your partner's family never liked you because they felt you are the reason he/she was gay to begin with.

4. Find out what it was like for them to be told by their partner that he/she was invited to a family get together but only if they left their partner at home. He/She wasn't invited. Find out the pain inflicted on your partner because, while he/she wants to spend time with family, he/she refused to leave you home alone.

The simple words of "I do." mean everything to those who can't get married. This, one of the shortest sentence in the world, could make all the difference to the person mentioned above.

Realize that every second in this life is precious and that everyone deserves the right to make every second count. Take time to think about what really makes you happy and realize that happiness is one of life's fleeting ideas that most people can't hold on too. It really pains me to see that there are people in this world who take absolute joy and glee out of making another person's life miserable.

For these reasons and more, I reject organized religion. I never want to feel like that again.

Signed,
Ouiser