Today, the British House of Commons passed a marriage equality bill by a vote of 400-175. Prime Minister David Cameron, a supporter of this legislation, is expected to sign it, calling the measure, “an important step forward.” In honor of we Americans, taking our sweet and entirely too slow time, I give you this video. Feel free to use this as a reminder that there are consequences for inaction. REMINDER.
Thank god for The Upworthiest for dropping this gem in my mailbox.
While platform shoes and pigtails may be nothing more than a speck on the horizon- like the Spice Girls bus pulling away from the relevancy station of the 90′s, Girl Power still lives on in my heart.
As a result, I get absolutely misty at the slightest sign of women’s empowerment. I can’t imagine watching this video and not feeling inspired. to fight for the culture that my (FUTURE) little girl will grow up in.
Watch. Learn. Do.
“If She Can See It, She Can Be It.”
This video makes me tear up a little- I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone make a case for marriage equality as eloquently as this guy, especially not in just under 5 minutes.
God bless people like this.
I believe in marriage equality. And research, in recent years, shows I’m far from the only one.
On occasion I run into someone who disagrees with gay marriage, and inevitably they begin talking to me about the many MANY reasons it shouldn’t happen.
Examples include:
It ruins the sanctity of marriage, to allow gays to do so. (Note: My parents, a woman and a man, didn’t exactly preserve any sort of marriage sanctity with their perfectly heterosexual marriage.)
Or God doesn’t want gays to marry. (Also of Note: This argument forgets that we don’t all subscribe to the same God. We are all not all Christians, nor does one person’s God and their hypothetical judgement dictate our governing body.)
And as you can imagine when people begin saying things like this to me, my reaction is not as measured and rational as it should be. Instead, my head usually spins around and steam comes out my ears. I get so impassioned by the topic- by the need for my friends to have the exact same rights I have, for people to be allowed to partake in the age-old institution, who believe in it, and fight for it, so passionately.
And I believe it is this passion and equality fervor, that makes it impossible to make sense to anyone who doesn’t speak Taylor’s-liberal-crazy.
And then I found this-
Any questions?
How the right is shoving me farther and farther to the left.
I very proudly said for a long time that it wasn’t about a party. No one party is good or evil, nor can the merit of a candidate be based on the letter by their name.
But the thing is, the more extreme the Republican party gets-the more exclusive, the farther left I wander.
Why?
1. Education
People preach about the legacy we pass on to future generations. That’s crucial when discussing matters like healthcare and the budget. But for some reason we keep chipping away at the education system. Especially here in Indiana, there seems to be the uncanny urge to take away crucial funding for schools.
How is this possible? How can schools be the first place to take money from? You want to argue over the economy? Or the high unemployment rate? Perhaps this is, at least in part, a failure of the education system.
2. Equality
It’s no secret. I love gays. I love the gay community. I believe in gay rights. My friend always tells me that I actually have a gay man hidden inside me (don’t try to figure out the logistics on this).
The thing is- this is the civil rights issue of our generation. People are being treated like second class citizens and opponents are wrapping themselves up in a blanket of Christianity to justify their bigotry. (See: Michelle Bachmann’s New Pledge) Let me make myself clear- I did not wake up one morning and say YAY boys. I did not DECIDE to be attracted to men. I don’t believe anyone else has that choice to make either. I was born, the way I was born. Anyone in the GLBT community was born the way they were born (Too Lady Gaga? Sorry.)
And I firmly believe those facts, those personal truths do not make a higher power frown on me. In fact, if He made me, He made any number of my friends just the way they are. THEREFORE, Indiana’s Gay Marriage Amendment scares me. My state, this state, continues to move this forward, to try to constitutionally ban the rights and freedoms I take for granted. I am appalled and saddened and will continue to donate, on my itty-bitty just out of college salary, to causes that fight against this.
3. Women’s Rights
You’d have to be living under a rock to not know how much of an attack women’s rights in this state have been under. This isn’t local news, or even regional. It’s become national and garnered the attention of many public figures.
Here’s my deal. Men, men in government, male pundits, public figures, have started acting as though women’s rights- affordable women’s healthcare and our right to choose what happens to our body, are negotiable. In my opinion- they are not. More importantly, the message it sends is that if you are a “good” “christian” female, who’s family has the means to take care of her financially- the Republicans can take care of you. But if you are poor, or if you are sexually active, or if you are in need of affordable health services, then you must be a “hooker”. (Could I make that up?)
Want to know something? I made a donation to Planned Parenthood too. Even if you don’t believe in abortion, even if you don’t want it to be an option, Planned Parenthood provides invaluable health services to women is need. And that is the most important point. That is why the funding of this program, and countless others like it is crucial.
4. Insanity
I would like to write about how party members who don’t just push boundaries but go running off the side of a cliff into a big vat of insanity, then have the gall to act like it’s the big ol’ bad media’s fault, are making me think that people with a brain couldn’t possibly be Republican. Or how Republican’s are trying to oust a fellow Republican, a nationally respected, moderate, thoughtful, Republican (Lugar) because he’s “too out there” and “not adhering to the conservative agenda” But instead, I’ll finish with an adorable video that further proves, while insanity gets me talking, it also pushes me WAY AWAY from the elephants.
