A Different Rant

This has been brewing in my head for awhile, so I thought I'd better write it out before my words get too tangled up.

I realize that inequality has existed in human society for millennia. Lower classes of people were forced to live as servants or slaves because of their circumstances at birth.  It didn't matter how wonderful, awesome or brilliant they were--no chances were given to those unlucky ones.
Up until the late 19th century, people of a different skin color were only slaves in the United States.  Their ancestors had been attacked, packed up on top of each other on ships, and moved from one continent to another to serve people with money.  It didn't matter that all the people with money were white--black was slave, white was master, period.
Prior to that, groups of "heathens" and "savages" were killed by the thousands so that Europeans could take over the fertile lands.  Those natives that survived were "allowed" to live on small, minuscule pieces of land (compared to what they'd been able to roam freely before) and were told what they would get to do.  They were viewed as less than human to many white people.
In the early twentieth century, although strides had been made against inequality, women were still not allowed to vote.  When they fought for the right, men had them arrested and put in asylums because the women were clearly not right in the head.  Fathers and husbands physically hurt outspoken daughters and wives to keep them from rallying for equality.
I realize I'm barely skimming over the atrocities of the racism and misogyny, a few thousand words could be used to really dig into the history of the hatred of each instance, but....

And so it was in 1919 that women in the United States were given the right to vote.
In 1924 Native Americans were given "citizenship" to the country they'd fought to call home for decades.
In the 1960's multiple Acts were passed through the US Congress that protected people of all races and creeds, protected voting rights for everyone, and banned discrimination in housing.
1963 was the year that the Equal Pay Act passed.  Women still only make 72% of men in equal positions.
It wasn't until 2010 that Native Americans won a suit against the US government for mishandling of Native trusts.

Now, however, there is a new inequality people are fighting over:  gay rights.  Gay marriage, more precisely.
I wrote a paper in my freshman year of college about it.  I was 18.
I was raised in a small farm & ranch community in the middle-of-nowhere Montana.  It didn't get much more conservative than there.  Everyone was for gun rights and against big city folk coming in and changing things.
I knew one single gay person, a cousin of mine.  I didn't know her well, but loved her two sons, who were both around my age.
Beyond that, I had no frame of reference for the real fight for equality that homosexuals were in.  But I wrote that paper anyway.  It still surprises me a little.
Yes, homosexuality is more "out there" than it ever has been.  Cable sitcom shows feature gay and lesbian Americans.  Ellen DeGeneres came out on national tv in the 90's.  This week, Anderson Cooper came out.  Ellen is a comedian, Anderson is a newscaster.  I've been familiar with both of them for about the same amount of time.  Anderson was part of the Channel 1 news show that I saw as a teenager when I was in high school--I'm pretty sure we watched it every morning in homeroom.
There are a lot of homosexuals that are famous, putting their names and faces on the gay rights flag.  There are a lot more homosexuals who are just trying to live their lives day-to-day and hope for equality, I'm sure.

What is marriage?  Why is it SO important to family values now, all of a sudden?

Marriage, waaaaaaay back in time, was simply a contract between a man and another man.  A woman was collateral.  In some societies, marriage was used to strengthen ties between countries.  I'm sure there was a lot of religion involved in most ceremonies, because in those times, religion was THE thing everyone agreed on.  A marriage contract was only fulfilled once vows had been made in front of a religious man.
In England, a woman was only marriageable if she had a large dowry (AKA $$$).  The woman was pretty much a consolation prize/burden to put up with to get hands on the money.
But marriage has evolved since then.  The vast majority of weddings now occur because two people love each other and want to make it legally known that they're considered a single unit.  One person's belongings are also the other's, their children will carry on the name of the father (in most cases) and everyone tries to be the couple that makes it through the good and bad times to reach 40, 50, 60 years together.
I must not understand what it matters to family values.  If two people love each other, want to be able to make tough decisions for their partner, who am I to say "No, that's not ok"?
Let's pretend that there's a couple:  person A and person B.  Persons A and B have been together for 14 years and desire to get married.  They know marriage isn't going to necessarily define their relationship, but the legalities it includes are important because person A is starting to develop signs of Parkinson's Disease.  And when things get bad, person A wants person B to be the one taking care of the hard decisions, the estate matters, and the miscellaneous other things that can happen when someone loses themselves in an illness.  Person B understands that they love person A and no matter how hard it gets, they want to be there for person A, because their feelings for each other are stronger than any sickness.  Persons A and B already live together, have a home together, and are well-liked in their neighborhood and community.
So, what does it matter if Person A is a woman and Person B is a woman?  What makes their desire to legally marry any different than if Person B was a man?
My thoughts are, if a child grows up with no expectations of relationships and someday encounters someone they fall in love with, does it truly matter if they are they same biological sex?  Why is it so difficult for people to get their minds out of other people's bedrooms?!
I don't care if you want to hang upside down naked and get tickled with an ostrich feather until you pass out from laughing so hard--is it hurting you?  Is it hurting your partner?  Does it involve children?  If all of the answers are no, then WHO CARES?

Differences are a part of life.  Tall, short, fat, skinny, black, white, smart, ignorant, brunette, circus performer, typist, blind, old, young, vegetarian, omnivore--all, some, or none of these make people original.  Let people live their lives and concentrate on making your own something you can look back on with a smile and full heart.  Hatred, distrust, and discrimination hurt everyone.