British Schools, Mandatory to teach Sex Ed

It is a step in the right direction when schools are forcing sexual education upon their students, especially at an earlier age. My big thing about education is that you should be exposed to everything in life--maybe not at just any random age (exposing children to pornography, for example, is stupid--however i think everyone should see what it looks like at some point so they can decide if it's horrifying or not and not just assume it is because of beliefs), and it's very good that children are going to be required to learn about it.

The only downside to this statute in England is that it allows private schools to teach whatever they like concerning sex education, even saying that homosexuality is wrong and contraceptives are evil. Although i don't like it, you can't argue with private schools. Sad day.

Pink News Article

I Knew I Like Lohan for Some Reason

Lindsay Lohan is a major forefront for gay marriage, pushing herself out their without denial to see what the public thinks of her and being gay. While it may seem she's doing these things just for herself, her public examination is still a positive, regardless of how crazy she is. She is a representation of the generational divide between our backwards grandparents and our progressive generation!

Advocate Article

First Gay Marriages in Iowa

Yay for Iowa! I can't wait for the rest of America!

Advocate Article

Hell Yea for a Lesbian World Leader!

Nuff said.

Pink Article

Celebrity Support is a Good Thing

A bunch of celebrities, including Christina Aguilera and Paris HIlton, showed their support at an auction for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. I think it is really great for celebrities, especially the straight ones, to show support for LGBT peope in our day and age. People who follow these celebs might take a second thought at gay people if their role models are vocalizing support.

Pink Article

Another Reason Religion is Bullshit

This article is all about how Americans are constantly changing religions like the sun changes positions in the sky during the day. According to studies, over 50% of Americans do it at least once in their lives.

Now i'm not a religious person to me, but isn't that counter productive? It just proves to me how flimsy religion is. "Oh, i don't like what yall are doin now...peace. Oh, i like this one better." yes, we have freedom of religion, but from a moral standpoint, isn't it wrong to just be like, "Ya know, God, i don't think you exist anymore. O but Buddha, you rock my world."

That's all i'm gonna say on this.

CNN Article

Demi Lovato speaks out against 11-year-old Suicide

Demi Lovato recently Tweeted her horrible disapproval of the gay-bashing and bullying that caused 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera to commit suicide last week by hanging. It's truly sad, and follows another 11-year-old suicide just two weeks ago because of gay bulling: young Carl Walker-Hoover. These acts are beyong tragic and something should be done to severaly punish those guilty of the bullying.

Advocate Article for Demi

AJC Article for Jaheem

Musical "Rent" Stirrup Drama in CA

News of a massive stirrup in Newport Beach, California this week as Rent is scheduled to be performed at the Corona Del Mar high school. The play was originally kept from being produced by the principal, but after a school-wide student protest and reading the script, the principal changed his mind.

However, the drama didn't stop. The Westboro Church has decided to make a public appearance at the high school and protest the production of the play on its premier night. Local groups have said they will too protest against the Westboro fanatics.

Advocate Article

Also, a cryptic blog was released by a member of Westboro, hinting at possible mass suicide by the Westboro Church. Personally, they can go right ahead and kill themselves. I wish it didn't have to come to that, but to sayings to come to mind thinking about it: "the world would be better off with you"--a phrase used against so many gay children to get them to kill themselves, and "bad blood will out"--a quote from a bitch in Harry Potter.

Advocate Article

Obama Denounces Homophobia

At the National Holocaust's Day or Remembrance, President Barach Obama denounced homophobia, among other negativities. A positive in our direction.

Advocate Article

NOM: A Friend's Inquiry

A friend said something hilariously thoughtful tonight, and i thought i'd put it on here for yall.

"So wait, NOM stands for National Organization for Marriage? How can they think they can call themselves that when they're completely against the idea of marriage?"

I thought that was such an innocently hilarious question that brings up so many good points. Yes, there are rebuttals to it specifying that NOM is for "straight" marriage and they just don't include it in title, but i think her question is still valid.

Mother Defends Gay Son

Another exciting article i found randomly. I hope you like it.

Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I’ve taken enough from you good people. I’m tired of your foolish rhetoric about the “homosexual agenda” and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.

My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.

He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called “fag” incessantly, starting when he was 6.

In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn’t bear to continue living any longer, that he didn’t want to be gay and that he couldn’t face a life without dignity.

You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don’t know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn’t put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it’s about time you started doing that.

At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won’t get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don’t know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.

If you want to tout your own morality, you’d best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I’m puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that’s not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?

A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I’ll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for “true Vermonters.”

You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn’t give their lives so that the “homosexual agenda” could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.

He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn’t the measure of the man.

You religious folk just can’t bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.

How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.

The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 ‘05 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about “those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing” asks: “What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?”

Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

Original Article

Rejecting Her Son

I randomly found this article, and when i did, it made me want to cry. It's so moving that i'm directly posting it on here.

Dear Jody: Mother regrets rejecting gay son who died

Originally printed 12/28/2006 (Issue 1452 - Between The Lines News)

Q: I'm the mother of a gay son, unfortunately now, a deceased gay son. Last year at this time, my son "Daniel" told me that he was gay. I was so upset by his telling me that. It was just before Christmas and I confronted him about being gay. I had seen some magazines and your newspaper which certainly indicated that he was gay. Daniel was in college and staying at home in order to save money. I found all this material in his room. Then, I found some letters to him from other men, love letters.

Anyway, when I found the magazines, newspaper and letters, I was so upset I just blurted out and asked him if he was gay. Actually, it was more like I just yelled at him about how he could have those disgusting magazines in him room and accused him of being gay. I couldn't believe that he could be gay, but he said that he was when I put it to him like that.

I want you to know that Daniel was my only child. My husband had died three years before. My whole life was centered around him. I know that I should not have centered my whole life around him, but that was the way it was. I was expecting that he would one day have a wife and children, and I would be a grandmother. When he told me that he was gay, I was not only disgusted with what I felt that meant, but upset that I wouldn't have the daughter-in-law and grandchildren that I had hoped for.

I told my son that he had to leave my house, that I could not approve of his behavior. I told him that he could come home when he decided to act like the son that his father and I had given birth to. Daniel left a week before Christmas. He tried to talk to me on the phone, but I wouldn't speak to him. My sister begged me to accept who he was, but I was stubborn and stupid. I didn't see him again until I saw him in the coffin when he died last July. He died of a drug overdose. I know that I ruined his life...and mine as well. I rejected him. I wanted him to live a life that was my dream, not his. I have no reason to believe that he was into drugs before I kicked him out. After I kicked him out, he had to quit school because he didn't have enough money to continue on. I guess he just turned to people who weren't good for him, and drugs.

Now it is the holidays again. I'm so depressed. I, now, not only don't have my dream of my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, I don't have a son at all. I also have no way of telling him how sorry I am, and what a fool I was!

I know that I can't change things. I'm stuck with my choices. I just thought that maybe some parent might read this letter and change things before it's too late. Distraught Mother

Answer: Thank you for writing. Hopefully, this letter will find its way to those parents, family and friends of lgbt people who would benefit from reading it. But on an even broader scale, I thank you for writing because I think we can all profit from your letter. You speak to the pain that we are left with when someone dies and we have allowed issues with them go unresolved. Or even when we fail to remember to say, "I love you," give a hug, or make time for those we love - only to then find out we'll never see that person again.

I'm hoping that you can forgive yourself. I also hope that you continue to let others know what you have learned; your son would be proud of you for that.

Original Article

I Don't Like Religion in General

Okay, if you're sensitive to hearing religious-hater material, I suggest not continuing to read. I'm going to be brutal.

DISCLAIMER: Although it may sound like I will judge you just because you are religious/have a religion, I genuinely try to NOT do that with people I meet. "Let he among us without sin be the first to condemn." I'm not perfect, so why do i have the right to judge you for the same thing? I don't, so i try not to. This is meant to only clarify my opinions on religion and the absurdity that i believe it to represent. I apologize if you don't feel the same way and are hurt by what i say, but to each his own. I believe what i will. You believe what you will, and write about it in your blog.

I'm going to start off with a pretty simple conversation that I believe defines very well my feelings on religion.

Idiot A-"hey, i say that there is a great guy in the sky who is my God."
Idiot B-"nu-uh, there is a great guy in the ground who is my God. He's the right one."
Idiot A-"no he's not. my god is right and yours is wrong."
Idiot B-"how dare you? blasphemer!"
Idiot B pulls out a gun and shoots and kills Idiot A.

Thus, religion is born.

Religion is the single greatest idea man ever had for giving himself reason to kill someone else, quickly followed by politics.

Now of course, this concept of religion massively generalized and stereotypes all religions in general, but I think it's a pretty good starting point. The 'good' reason for having religion is so that people feel comfortable with the idea of death, knowing that they are going to be somewhere after they die. I can understand how a sense of hope is a good thing, otherwise what point is there to life, except to live and die?

Well, i think living is a pretty good reason. There is so much to do out there, and we're only given so much time to do it. Instead of wasting your time following some made-up fairy tale and worrying about following a set of bull shit rules, you should get out there and enjoy while you can. You might not always be able to.

But back to religion. I personally don't know hardly anything about any other religions, except that Islam apparently calls its followers to "Kill the infidels!" i.e. Americans/people who have freedom to do what they like. The only other religion i know anything about is the one that, according to its Bible, hates me just for being the way that i am: Christianity.

Now, the number one thing on my list of why i hate Christianity is actually quite the paradox. On the one hand, i really hate Christianity can be the most popular religion in America, and yet still have so many different divisions and belief systems to it: Catholic, Christian, Protestant, Baptist, Southern-Baptist, Presbyterian, Evangelical, etc. It really urks me that people take this Bible, read it, and then pick and choose what they want to believe. It causes so many unnecessary arguments and differences of opinion, just between Christians, that it almost doesn't seem worth it. But that's the paradox; the freedom of religion allows a person to believe whatever he or she wants to believe, and the Bible fits oh so perfectly into this idea. There are so few straightforward rules in the bible that simply cannot be left up to interpretation that the rest of it is left up to whatever the reader thinks about it. That in and of itself makes the whole thing look like total bullshit. If a God really wanted people to know what he wanted them to, why didn't he just say it? Instead of giving them all this ambiguous bullshit that so many people have died fighting over? Doesn't that seem a little backwards?

Then again, i cant judge about God being backwards? He supports that whole 'faith' idea: the backbone of ignorance. Alright everyone, there is this being see? He's three parts, but actually just one. He doesn't live in the sky, or on earth, or in space. He's in Heaven. And he's watching over all of you. Ok? Now all you have to do is have faith, and it's all true.

That's like saying, just believe that the sky is purple, and it will be so.

These are my biggest problems with religion. The loose structure of the whole thing just blows my mind about how people will stake so much on what was written in a book thousands of years ago. There are so many more things that i could get into about why i think it's all bullshit, but it's not even worth it.

The people i'm trying to reach out to aren't going to listen anyways.

How I Define "Christian"

Now, I hold such a grudge against Christians for multiple reasons. The less obvious, unless you know me, being that I probably hold a little bit of hate in my heart for Christianity for the life that it raised me in. There are so many negative things that have happened in my life in the name of God, that i can't look back at those memories and respect the Lord Above because of them. It seriously screwed up my perception of the world for so long, and i'm still clouded by it even to this day. I should not have to deal with these feelings. I know that being Christian raised to be the man i am today, but there are plenty of people out there with similar personality traits that weren't raised Christian, so that whole "no regrets" thing doesn't hold much water in this situation.

My second reason, more obvious, is that I don't like Christians that hate gay people. This is probably the demographic that I'm speaking to whenever I bash Christians, so if you're a Christian who likes gay people, I'm sorry if you feel i've been insulting, because i haven't. I hate Christians who are so blinded by what they believe that they let it cloud their judgement of everything else in the world that has nothing to do with religion. There are so many religious points i could get into about it (being raised Christian, i know quite a bit about the Bible and Christianity as a whole), but that's not the point here. The point is, if you hate Gays, i'm going to trash talk you in my blog. If you don't, good for you.

I think religion in general is stupid, that is my personal opinion (this idea is really a whole other blog altogether). I'm not going to hold someone else accountable for being a religious because everyone has a religious belief for one reason or another, and i'm sure its really none of my business why they're religious unless they want to share with me. I'm only going to judge you when you judge me first, especially if you don't know me.

Is that Celeb in or out?

This is an interesting article about whether or not it's right to out a celebrity, or keep them in the closet. It uses an example of, when Clay Aiken came out, did you go out and buy his cd? I think that's a little unfair; i don't like Clay's music, so i don't buy his cd. end of story. not cuz he's gay. then again, I'm gay, so i guess i can't judge that.

Anywho, I think a celeb should come out if it's in their best interest. I'm in the same situation. My parents dont know yet, and now is not the time to tell them. I will eventually (it's a new year's revolution, so hopefully this year) but i'm in no hurry.

Queerty Article

Hugh Jackman isn't gay, but thinks it's Ok

Recently, Hugh Jackman was asked if he was gay, and he replied no. However, he did say that there's nothing wrong with being gay, and that no one should be ashamed by it. It's also not as big a deal in other countries as America makes it out to be, like we're trying to define ourselves by it. We should be more like Australia, i guess.

Pink News Article

Gay Marriage Possible in Maine

A standing ovation welcomed the proposal of a gay marriage bill in Maine on Wednesday. Yay! People like us up there.

Huffington Post Article

Louisiana Supreme Court Case for Gay Marriage

We could be seeing somewhat of an uproar starting in LA in the near future. A lawsuit was opened on April 2 by two men seeking a marriage license and were denied by an amendment from 2004 defining marriage as between a man and a woman. They prepared the lawsuit and have officially filed it.

Hopefully, this will go to the Supreme Court and they'll realize it's unconstitutional, although it's EXTREMELY unclear how the vote would turn out anyways. Let's hope these people have gotten some sense knocked into them about civil liberties since 2004.

2theAdvocate Article

Remember Angie: A Stride in a Positive Direction

The verdict came in on the horrible murder of transgender woman Angie Zapata. The murderer was convicted on a first degree murder charge in the officially labeled "hate crime" case. Her memory will forever be a great stride in the right direction for legislation against hate crimes.

HRC Article

Fight Hate Crimes Now: Message from HRC

Hi,

Have you heard that the hate crimes bill is coming before Congress again?

I hope you'll join me in sending a message to Congress: we can't wait any longer for a federal law to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans from violent hate crimes. Take action at:

http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/hate_crimes

Ordinary people are living in fear for their safety and their lives every day, in small towns and big cities. Hate crimes against LGBT people are on the rise, but the federal government has no direct authority to investigate, prosecute or help local law enforcement crack down.

We can't let this continue. We can't let friends and neighbors become targets for violence simply because of who they are.

Congress passed the hate crimes bill in 2007, but because of George Bush's veto threat, it never became law. And now, right-wing extremists are once again making outrageous claims that the bill would criminalize preachers, end free speech, and so on.

Will you help make sure their lies aren't the only things members of Congress are hearing about this bill? Please click below to send a note urging Congress to pass the Matthew Shepard Act.

http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/hate_crimes

Thanks for your help.

Britney and Miley Show Their Support!

After the debacle with Miss USA and that silly girl's opinions on gay marriage that shook the superficial nation, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus, via Twitter, spoke out in their support for gay marriage.

This news comes as an interesting prospect of possible future support from many actors and celebrities. Greater support from Hollywood could only help, since so many people look up to them in their favorite movies.

Pink News Article

Gay Rights Will Be Here Sooner Than We Thought

This article explains how much quicker gay marriage could be legalized. YAY!

GAY MARRIAGE NOW!

It's going to happen people. Like it was mentioned in the article, the rising generation (myself included in this) views sex and sexual ideas very fluidly, unlike our parents and grandparents, who are currently holding all the cards. But in 10-20 years, we'll be holding all the cards.

I will be thoroughly shocked if gay marriage is not 100% legal by then; it's going to happen, no matter what.

It's not a matter of if, it's only a matter of time.

Hilarious Colbert Report. NOM Ad

LOVES IT!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Ripple Effect

I was thinking about all the hatred constantly flowing outwards from Christian churches, what with them hating the gays, wanting to ban all these things, and just looking down on everyone, and then i thought of something interesting.

America should let the Christians ban shit. We should. Today. Not ban things from America-----Ban things from themselves.

Think about the marketing concept. 'Christians, if you want America to follow you, you have to set an example. No you can't ban things from America yet, but ban them from yourselves first, and we'll follow you when it all looks good." Logically, this makes perfect sense. Christians could start by banning books they hate, like Harry Potter and little gay penguin books. It'd catch on fast, with all Christians completely stopping the reading of these books. Then they'd expand to other things their bible commands, like eating shell fish and getting haircuts.

Unfortunately, it'd get to a point where people would start to not like the things their religion was banning. They'd think, 'this doesn't seem wrong to me. Why should i not be allowed to do it?' 'But the doctrine calls for it!' 'Well, then, Fuck the doctrine.'

Suddenly, Christianity wouldn't be such a popular religion anymore.

I like this idea. We should tell it to the pope.

Transgender Murder Trial: Hate Crime

Some fucker got mad that the girl he was on a date with was actually a dude, so he killed her. And now they're trying to push a defense that he was crazy angry and it was not a pre-meditated murder.

Big fucking deal! He killed her because he was angry that she lied to him. Put him away for life. Problem solved. Murder is murder.

CNN Article

New York Gov. will introduce gay marriage bill

Yay for NY! Governor David Peterson has officially stated that he plans to introduce a gay marriage bill for the state of New York. He hasn't said yet officially when, but he plans to, and I'm sure that means soon. It's best to strike when the iron is hot, and with Iowa, Vermont and Connecticut all having introduced gay marriage recently, now is better than later.

GOOD LUCK NEW YORK! I know it'll all work out for the best!

Pinknew article

Gay Penguins Book is Wanted for Ban

American families are going off the deep end when they decide to want a book about real animal qualities banned because their religions disagree with what nature entails.

And Tango Makes Three is a book about two male penguins that adopt a baby son, and the book is hailed as anti-religion, anti-family, and pro-gay. I would say it's difficult to argue the pro-gay (since the penguins are technically boys--regardless that penguins have been documented to actually mate with the same sex), but I don't think religion is even mentioned in the book (penguins don't have the mental capacity to create ideas that give them "reasons" to kill each other) nor is family shunned (the whole premise is about the 3 penguins being a family, you stupid people). Once again, we see fear of what's right and good being prosecuted by ignorant and stubborn people.

PinkNews article

Fun at the Carousel

I'm going to the Carousel, a local gay club, tonight, and I'm pretty excited about it. Carousel is an interesting place; I think it's best to say that it's good in short bursts.

The Carousel isn't the only gay club in Knoxville, but as far as I know it's the most popular because it's right by campus and easy and friendly to all people aged 18+. It's a fun, slightly small (in comparison to Play in Nashville, a really awesome gay club) club with a bar and dance floor on the first floor and a stage for Drag Queens on the second. Going is fun because you can watch a show and then dance the night away.

However, I don't think it would be nearly as fun if I went all of the time. It's only ever crowded on Friday nights, so going "all of the time" is still only once a week, but even then, I'm sure it would still get boring. Even now, I'm going tonight, and I'm excited about it, but I think it'll only be so fun.

Hmmm, I wish I lived in Nashville.

NOM is full of shit

This video was made by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), and it just proves how stupid they are. The Human Rights Organization totally shut down every single argument as 'previously proven wrong' on national television.

I really hope people see straight through the bull shit.

Relationships

Why does it always seem like no one around me can stay in a relationship? In just the passed few months, all of the gay relationships I counted as being just as great as mine have fallen apart. It makes me so unbelievably sad for everyone involved, because that's just horrible.

There weren't any parties in any of the relationships that I didn't like; I love everyone who has been hurt and am deeply sorry for their heartaches.

In a way, I feel very alone now. I still have a few friends in relationships, but what happened to the others? What kind of precidence is being set for me? Are all gay relationships eventually doomed? I don't personally know anyone who's been in a relationship for years and years and years (maybe 4 years max-- which would seem solidified to me, but that one ended too!), and I wish I did to help me feel like my boyfriend (who I have every intention of staying with for years and years and years--he's perfect to me) and I aren't doomed too?

I love being in love, and I love everyone in my life. Heartache shouldn't exist. Period.

National Day of Screaming as Loud as You Can

I'm all for the idea of shutting up to show how important we actually are, but I feel like silencing ourselves won't really help the issue. Friday should be "National Day of Screaming as Loud as You F$cking Can!" People show know we're here, and that we're being hurt and killed, not hiding behind our fears in silence.

I created the NDOS program for UT this semester (a monologue performance of student-created gay experiences--total success!), and the one thing I took away from it is that staying quiet is not the right approach. I can understand the logic behind it, but for one, trying to get a gay guy to shut up for half an hour is already impossible--why are we trying to suppress ourselves for a whole day?

Now, I'm not saying scream out profanities at those we hate and get all striking and offensive on people--not at all. Our screams for recognition should controlled and directed into constructive means, like the monologue performance. So many people attended the event that are not a part of the mother organization, the Lambda Student Union, and i feel that this was the most important part: people heard our screams.

So on Friday, I'm not going to be quiet. I'm not going to sit in silence. I'm gonna the whole damn world know what i have to say!

Generational

I was talking with my boyfriend's mom about coming out to my parents, to get any advice she could give me about it. Besides the standard stuff i expected--don't do it at a restaurant, when we're out of town, in public, etc.--she actually said something that really made me think. Concerning their personal reactions, she described an explanation of it to help me better understand: "Accepting homosexuality is very generational."

The impact of that hit me almost immediately. I had never thought about being gay and accepting people because of that in such terms before. "Generational." It's like with the civil rights movement. Back then, many of the younger "hippier" people were all for equal rights and the good of everyone, but think about who was against it: the older people who were alive, possibly, when slavery was still around and accepted. The movement finally got to the point where the majority of the population had grown with the respect for African Americans, so the laws changed accordingly.

The issues of gay marriage are evolving in the exact same way. All the time on campus, all I hear is "college is so much different from high school; here you can be who you want and nobody gives a shit." I would definitely agree to that and even take the thought process one step further. In high school, unlike most people in college, one lives with his/her parents, which is a huge influence upon one's life. The belief system, moral and ethical thoughts, even manners are imposed upon the child, and one is encouraged to act accordingly. In college, one starts a new life and can be whoever he/she wants. Our generation is forming our own opinions about gay marriage, and they are generally much more progressive than our parents and grandparents.

So, it may be a constant struggle for acceptance now, but think about who you're trying to get the acceptance from. I have never even considered arguing my way of life with anyone my age; whenever I imagine talking about it to someone, that person is always considerably older than me. In 20-30 years, the tables will have completely turned on the numbers for and against gay marriage. Just based on ages alone, I will be shocked if gay marriage is not legal in 75-100% of the USA, because most of the population (at least everyone aged 60 and below) will have grown up in a very gay-accepting time.