Rachel and Mira
Rachel and Mira had come to the tropics for a little sight seeing. While their flushed cheeks and unwavering smiles can best be attributed to the hours they've spent on the beach or in pools of spring water, it is quite evident that there is something else. The way Mira holds Rachel's hand and looks at her is enough to make romantics out of cynics.
Asked what they want to do next, they grin simultaneously and proceed to take the question out of context. Rachel declares its forever or nothing for them. When pressed for particulars, Mira shrugs her shoulders and simply says she'll be headed abroad after passing the nursing board. She looks at Rachel and it's understood, somewhere along the road, Rachel will follow. Both at the age of 21, fresh out of college, both girls have decided their fate at the spur of the moment.
Reality Bites
Although this encounter may still seem unusual for some, it is something that is no longer surprising really. Rachel and Mira as a couple are merely a statistic in a society that has come to increasingly accept same sex partnerships. For Rachel and Mira however, young as they are, they are yet unaware of the trials they have yet to hurdle before they can even begin to realize their promise of forever.
Even as homosexuality, bisexuality and transexuality have become increasingly accepted as natural human gender states as evidenced by the presence of homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals in every facet of society, they have yet to experience a greater extent of societal acceptance that is in the form of equal rights, treatment and opportunity.
The Right to Marry
One kind of equal right that has apparently become a priority especially among same sex couples is the right to marry. While marriage may seem to be a simple term to comprehend, the word itself cannot simply be reduced to a dictionary definition. Through time, the institution of marriage has acquired multiple meanings depending on what perspective is used to view it. Before we can even begin to seriously consider the prospect and implications of same sex marriages (SSM) it should be foremost in our agenda to look into the institution of marriage as it was, as it is and as it will be as seen by society in the eyes of law, religion and culture.
What does the law say about same sex marriage? What does religion and culture say? We can go through a convoluted examination of these different aspects of society. Knowing the fickleness of society however, a time will come when, regardless of present legal, religious and cultural norms, people will look back at this point in time and think of how preposterous we had been. Future society will think us absurd just as we know think the people of the past were absurd for seeking to subjugate women and treat them as property. The world will come to terms with the idea of same sex marriage.
Ergo
This does not mean that everyone should agree to same sex marriage. In a world that has become intoxicated with notions of democracy, everyone has the right to have an opinion and keep it. The point is not to agree or disagree, the point is to own the responsibility and consequences for one's life decisions. In the final analysis, the laws of man or the laws of nature shall not matter; it shall be between individuals and their creator.
