Marriage Equality Protest – Part 1
Jeff | May 31, 2009 | Comments 3
Two weeks ago, I noticed a lot of activity on the streets surrounding my neighborhood as I left the apartment for a run through Central Park. Unfortunately, I was oblivious to everything that was going on around me; I had no idea why there were crowds of people strolling down Lexington Ave. I think I was more annoyed that these families, although walking in the same direction that I was running, still managed to block off large sections of the sidewalk with their banners and signs. Since they had their back to me, I made no point to turn around and read what the signs said.
Finally clear of the crowd somewhere around 42nd Street, I continued to run north into and around Central Park, and then on back down Lexington Ave to return home. As I approached 42nd Street on the return, I knew I would run into the rally again. As I got closer to home, I came upon a mother with her two children, each smiling wildly while holding a homemade sign with a statement in Spanish and then translated to English. It was when I finally got to the English translation that I just couldn’t run anymore. The little girl’s sign read, “Save Marriage – Keep It Between a MAN and a WOMAN!”
Instantly I was flooded with anger. As I crossed 42nd Street headed towards 41st, I was angry at the little girl holding the sign. When I realized that she couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old, I was then angry with her mother. Several questions about the woman’s parenting skills began to race through my head. How could a parent teach their child such hatred? How did they teach this to their child? Was it done in the name of religion or human nature?
As I crossed 41st Street headed to 40th, a new question popped in my head – and this one really made me think – would I have had the same reaction to a child of a gay parent who held up a sign that read something along the lines of “Marriage Is For Everyone – Gay or Straight?” Honestly, I don’t think that I would have. Is that wrong? Isn’t it a parent’s responsibility to teach or pass down beliefs and values to their children? What makes the straight parents beliefs and values and better than the gay parents? Is it only the fact that the gay parents beliefs are aligned with my own?
My anger quickly disappeared. I crossed 40th, only feet from my apartment, realizing that in a matter of 2 blocks I was now more confused than angry. Is it wrong for parents to teach their children their own beliefs, values, and views on religion? Of course not.
Does that mean straight parents are ‘teaching’ their children to be straight and that gay parents are ‘teaching’ their children to be gay?
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This is such a funny topic, because it’s extremely cut and dry to me. I don’t feel this issue has anything to do with equality. It has everything to do with rewriting definitions. Marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman. Changing the definition to allow same-sex couples is a dissolution of God in marriage. That is religious intolerance coming from a direction and a portion of the populace that claims supreme open-mindedness.
If this topic were truly about equality, and not the latest topic du’ jour fed to us by the pundits and the media, the discussion would’ve stopped at civil unions. Civil unions bestow all the rights (tax, next-of-kin, etc…) that a marriage provides.
It boils down to this for me: I want to paint my house red. I like the color but not the name. If the name ‘violet’ appeals to me, it is intolerant of me to ask the rest of mankind to change the name of ‘red’ to violet’ because it suits me. If I want ‘red’, I have to take what comes with it.