Reaction

I still read the Letters to the Editor when I read the paper. There, I admitted it. It gives me some sort of sick pleasure reading the thoughts of people in my community who take the time to write in. The ‘sick’ part comes from the fact that a good 9 times out of 10 the thoughts expressed are so infuriatingly unconsidered and uninformed that I feel myself physically powered by the rage they fill me with.

Today’s Letters though did not feel me with the rage that they usually do- instead an exasperated sadness spread when I read the ‘I Disagree’ section.

Cohen Watson, who is the associate pastor of the Bassendean Church of Christ, wrote in with a wholly unsurprisingly ‘I don’t agree with gay marriage’ rant titled “Its Time Has Not Come”. Usually this type of material would fill me with spite, but today it just made me sad. Sad because Mr Watson still genuinely believes the negative stereotypes which my generation have grown up KNOWING are incorrect.

Mr Watson says “I’m also not convinced that it is loving to re-educate our children to accept same-sex relationships as normal and healthy when we know there are health risks associated with same-sex lifestyles, especially for men.”
Seriously?

I could throw about words like bigot, hateful, ignorant, but quite frankly I’m exhausted by them too. Hatred, in this case, I don’t feel should be met with hatred.

In my small amount of religious learning at my Anglican school, the greatest message I learnt was that God loves me and God will forgive me if I do the wrong thing but I live with love in my heart. I feel the need to highlight the irony that someone who should be preaching love and forgiveness is taking the time to write something so hateful and unforgiving. I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but opinion should at the very least be based on fact. Mr Watson’s opinion is not based on fact.

My greatest issue with the fact that gay marriage is still a ‘debate’ is the fact that really and truly it has no impact on anyone besides those who are being denied something I take for granted. I have no desire to get married because for me, right now, it’s not a possibility. I am not in love with someone who wants to spend the rest of their life with me. I will reconsider this if and when I do happen to fall in love with such an individual, but for me, on an entirely personal level I don’t see the point of marriage…for me. That’s not to say I don’t see the point for other people. I realise that for many people marriage is something inevitable and desirable.

I’m cynical of marriage in a ‘love’ sense (child of divorced parents, who would have guessed?!?!) but in a practical, financial sense it seems like a logical decision two people could come to if they imagine they’re going to be with their partner forever. Marriage should therefore be made available to anyone who wants to make that financial commitment to someone. CIVIL UNIONS I hear people cry- well no, I’m sorry. Marriage is still the symbolic gesture of love and commitment that I may not want/understand, but I appreciate that someone else might want to explore. And power to them.

The time for me to wed has not come Mr Watson, but for others, gay people included, it may have. Who, therefore, are you or I to say that it hasn’t?