The Life of Me

Again, I'm not that politically active, but I have been told plenty about this whole homosexual marriage issue. And here's what I think, and what I know.

I'm Catholic. I have always been and always will be proud to call myself Catholic. I am also straight. I am about as straight as you can be. Does the fact that I'm a straight Catholic mean that I hate gays/lesbians? No! That's (oh, no, language!) bs! (I don't really think swearing is necessary all that much... If you think the fact that I didn't spell out the word makes me a wimp, then reread the sentence containing the wimpiness.) 

People keep saying Catholics hate homosexuals. I know and love some gay/lesbian people (not romantically, though...)! Some, I've been friends with since... Forever ago! Of course, there may be some Catholics who don't like homosexual people, but for the veryveryvery most part, Catholics don't hate the people, we hate the acts. We don't mind that you happen to like people of your sex--you normally can't really help that. But it's against our religion to kiss, sleep with, and marry people of your own gender. Who did God create first? Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. 

This whole thing where me and my family and friends are haters, bigots, etc. is completely ridiculous. If homosexuals and people who want them to be able to marry each other don't want Catholics to be "stereotypical," then why are they being that way to us? We're not judging homosexuals! I'm not judging homosexuals! Why is that so hard to believe?

I read an amazing article written by a Catholic gay teenage guy. He said that the only people who were ever mean to him about his ways were non-Catholics, who judged him because he was living celibate. There is NOTHING wrong with not having sex until you're married. My parents waited until they were married, and they married later than most people do. They're AMAZING people! I've never even heard them fight before--except over who does the dishes, and that's fighting to love each other!

See, that's how you love each other: you put their needs before your own. Not being able to marry someone isn't not being able to love them. Nor is not having sex with them. Yes, the world has become a sex-obsessed place. People are using sex to sell hamburgers, for Pete's sake! I swear to you here and now upon everything on the planet that I will not have sex until I'm married. I promise. 

(If I'm ever raped, don't you dare be all "LOL, you broke your promise." Rape isn't a joke.) (Even if a woman rapes a man. I saw a post about that on Facebook, too, and people--not my friends, but other people--had been laughing at how "lame" the guy was. That's completely messed up.)

Of course, I know, there are different kinds of love. There's family-love. I love my mom, I don't want to marry her. I love my sisters, my dad, my uncles, aunts, and cousins, but I would NEVER marry them. There's friend-love. I love my friends to death, but I don't want to marry any of them. Then there's romantic love. I get it. Catholics "aren't letting you [romantically] love each other." That's completely untrue. Raise your hand if you've ever had a crush on anyone? Or dated anyone? I'm guessing most of you did, if not all of you. If I said, "sorry, you can't marry them," would you stop loving them? No! Not if you were seriously in love! You would continue to love them. You'd probably fight to be allowed to marry them, but it's not good for you or them to marry them.

In the previously-mentioned article by the homosexual Catholic guy, he used the comparison of his daughter wanting to eat sand. (He didn't actually have a daughter--'cause he didn't have sex with people! If you don't want kids yet, sleep alone!) He would tell her, "No, you can't eat sand." If she liked sand more than food, she'd probably keep trying to eat it. He'd have to make a strict rule: "You may not ever eat sand." Does he hate his daughter? Of course not! He's doing it for her own good. Eat sand, you'll die. I'm not saying if you marry someone of your gender, you'll die, but it's wrong to do that. I'm not saying "YOU'RE A SINNER!" I'm not saying "I'm better than you are 'cause I would only marry a guy." I sin. I sin a lot.  I wish I didn't, but I do. I make mistakes. I screw up. I'm a mess sometimes. But I try to fight the temptation to sin. Just because you're in love with someon doesn't mean you have to marry them and share a bed with them. Fight the temptation! I know it's hard--love is a weird thing. Just about the strongest thing on earth. But you can do it. It'll be hard, you may falter a little, but never give up. Try to look at this from both sides of the argument. We're honestly just trying to protect you. We don't want you to eat sand. We don't want you to suffer. How does that make us bigots?

-Sue Donimm