Opinion
 

Marriage protectors off target

by Rolando Dans Jr.

I've been following the gay marriage issue since November. If you're going to discriminate against me, don't beat around the bush. At least have the guts to tell me what you really mean. Don't try to hide behind phrases like "protecting the sanctity of marriage" or "traditional family values," because I can see right through it.

Of course, I can understand that the "protecting the sanctity of marriage" argument will hold up better in court than "I don't like homos." It's a battle of rhetoric, and whoever has the better catchphrase usually wins.

But please, don't try to insult my intelligence when you try to say that it's really about protecting marriage. The last time I checked, opponents of gay marriage were the only ones preventing anyone from getting married, while Britney Spears gets married in Las Vegas for 55 hours. Where were the so-called "marriage protectors" then?

And of course, it's easier to call yourself a "protector of marriage" rather than a person who prevents marriage, because it makes you look more like the good guy in the situation. It's the difference between the nice security guard at a hotel and the pushy bouncer at the entrance to a bar. But you're really not fooling anyone.

So come on and tell it to my face. Don't think you can blind me with the glare from your pearly white teeth and highly polished words. Tell me I don't have the freedom, in this land of the free, to make a commitment to the man I love because it isn't "traditional." Come tell me and all the other young homosexual men and women of this country that our love is not as valid as yours.

Tell us, after we have just celebrated Valentine's Day, that our love counts for nothing because it disgusts you. I'm all ears.

Dans, an editorial writer for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at dccampus@mail.uh.edu.