Love is not enough!

Kind of emotional right now:

I'm kind of emotional right now and really having a hard time writing this out so, forgive me if some of this is a little hard to read/follow.

I can't tell what's really going on but my mind is working over time. You see, I started this blog simply to get a chance to tell my story as an exercise for my own sanity. I may have done more damage than good.

I've never really been an activist in any sense of the word. I've supported HRC and other gay geared organizations but that's about it.

I've put on the monkey suite and given a few dollars where I could spare some and just went on about my day. Never really thinking about what was going on outside of my own little world.

There are a lot of reasons for that. The reasons are the same as the reasons why this blog is written under a pen name.

People who know us know that Mac and I go together like Mac and Cheese (thanks Justice for that one, I stole it). We live in the country and love it. We lead very normal lives. Aside from the fact that we are both male, our relationship is the same as any happily married couple.

We have joint bank accounts, credit cards and vehicle titles. We share everything with one another.

So why am I so bothered about anything? Shouldn't love be enough?

No, love is not enough:

We hear all this talk in the gay rights movement about being able to visit your partner in the hospital, being able to adopt and all of that. Those are all nice sentiments.

We have vague arguments about how allowing gay marriage is a stepping stone to allowing multiple marriages. We constantly have to explain to folks that gay does not mean pedophile. We also have to remind people that our parents were straight when they make the weak ass argument about how 2 gay parents will raise gay children.

These are all tiring conversations. And we get trapped into talking about them rather than focusing on the real issues. If marriage was just a title, it wouldn't matter at all, I would just say "Mac and I are married" and that would be that.

The truth is heterosexuals may get married for love. They pay their $25.00 to get their license and then they go to a judge (or minister) and get the whole thing finalized.

In this simple act, they get the title of a married couple. But they get so much more than that.

For those $25.00, those taxes to the federal government for Social Security that we've been paying since we first started working can be paid back to survivors (next of kin) in the event of one's death.

For those $25.00 you can own a home together and pay taxes on that home together.

For those $25.00 should anything happen to your spouse you have all of the rights that go with being next of kin. Sure, hospital visitation is one of them, but there's more!

The truth is, there are over 1,000 protections that those $25.00 gives to married couples that there is absolutely no way (currently) for us to get.

I'm sure I don't even have to tell you the amount of rights that our military married folks receive that those LGBT service members can never have under the current laws.

So what's with the sudden frustration:

Well, it's just started to become a little too overwhelming. When I start seeing what straight folks take for granted. I pay the same taxes that they do but they get to vote on what protections I can and can not have. Meanwhile, we have ministers (who don't pay taxes at all) telling their congregations to vote against gay rights.

I'm frustrated because, people don't even realize that MY tax dollars pay for all of those governmental available protections, yet I can't take advantage of those tax dollars at all.

The government seriously should give me a fucking tax credit for being gay!

Huckabee makes me want to vomit

On Twitter this morning I found a link to this article.

Sometimes I want to scream at the thought process of some people. Here's a point by point.

Don't Ask Don't Tell:
Of the movement to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Huckabee said, "you don't see foot soldiers out there demanding it".

No kidding. That's because if they are out there demanding it, they will be dubbed as gay and investigated and possibly kicked out.
What you fail to understand, Mike, is that there are many soldiers who are gay but are forced to hide the fact.
What you fail to understand is that, there are many soldiers who joined the military not knowing that they are gay (because they are just 18 or 19 years old) but later figure it out and are stuck in something that they agreed to before they had all the facts.

Gay Marriage and Same Sex Unions:
Of same sex civil unions and same sex marriage he said, "You don’t go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal. That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let’s go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them."

Mike, even people who use drugs, deal drugs, rape murder and are convicted and in prison are allowed to get married. Even child molesters are not stripped of the ability to get married and procreate!

So, to you, gay Americans who want nothing more than to be afforded to same protection under the law that straight Americans take for granted are lower than murderers and child molesters?

We aren't talking about incest or polygamy! Your argument is that you don't want to allow gay marriage because it can lead to other groups wanting to get married?

By your logic then, we should just get rid of marriage all together because, if it weren't for straight marriage, we gay folks would never have wanted to get married.

Yes Mike, you should accommodate my right to enter into a marriage contract with whoever I want to, so long as they are legally able to enter into that contract. By that I mean, so long as they are not bound by another marriage contract, are old enough to enter into contract (by law) and are human.

Gay adoption:
Of gay adoption Huckabee states, "I think this is not about trying to create statements for people who want to change the basic fundamental definitions of family, and always we should act in the best interest of the children, not in the seeming interest of the adults. Children are not puppies. This is not a time to see if we can experiment and find out, how does this work?"

You're right, Mike! It's not about trying to create statements. It's about the natural human desire to want to have a family. "Family" has NEVER had a basic fundamental definition as far as the human race is concerned. You have all different kinds of families. Single fathers, single mothers, kids who have two families because their parents divorced and remarried and many other combinations.

The fact is, there are many children who are in foster care and orphanages that are simply waiting for a permanent family to care for them.

You have straight couples and in some cases single guys or girls who can't have children of their own that adopt. These kids are adopted into all different "family" styles.

Why must you assume that our motives are any different than the motives of those "straight" people? It is a basic human instinct to desire a family, just ask those kids who don't have one! Not only do you want to deny gay folks the ability to raise a family but you want to deny these kids a proper home because of your hatred for gay America!

The fact is, Mike, if you had your way all of us gays would be sitting on an island somewhere.
I have news for you! We are Americans too! You do not get to decide what is ideal for every human, only what is ideal for yourself. You already have special rights just because you happen to prefer the opposite sex. That is un-American! No special rights should be given to any one group, whether that group is a majority or not!

Conclusion:
Mike Huckabee, you make me want to vomit. In general you are a smart individual. I've heard you make sense on fiscal issues, but when it comes to this, you are flat out narrow minded.

You seem to have an inability to understand that this is not about forcing straight people to believe anything or do anything, it is about allowing us to exercise the same rights and privileges that you take for granted on a daily basis!