Would you like some fries with your hate?

2012-08-02 12:16

Georgina Guedes

A friend of mine was riding an escalator in London, his boyfriend's head resting on his shoulder. A woman passed them, turned, smiled and said, "It's true love."

This is the kind of response that any couple involved in a quiet display of affection deserves, no matter what the gender of the two involved parties. And yet around the world, there is endless criticism directed at gay relationships and partnerships.

I've never understood this kind of thinking. If you disapprove of gay marriage, then don't marry someone the same sex as you. I don't see how two people entering into a relationship because they love each other has any bearing on any other person in the world. It's their business.

In America, Dan Cathy the president and CEO of fast-food chicken outfit Chick-fil-A spoke out against gay marriage, saying he was "very much supportive of family - the biblical definition of the family unit."

This has reignited a debate that's always smouldering in the United States, and on Wednesday, supporters of Cathy's stance flocked to outlets around the country. Tomorrow gay couples are expected to push back with a “kiss off” in Chick-fil-A branches.

I doubt that either rush of support will succeed in changing anyone's mind about anything.

Many of the opponents of gay marriage cite their religion as the reason for their hatred. But religion should be about the relationship between an individual and their god. Again, if you think it's wrong to be gay, then don't be gay (although I feel sorry for you trying to quash your true nature). Why does it matter what anyone else does?

There's a common slogan bandied about in defence of homosexuality: "Hate is not a family value." This makes a very relevant comment on the way in which those who are supposedly focussed on Godliness and the sanctity of straight marriage defend their own beliefs in a litany of attacks on those who don't see things the same way.

The view that gay marriage somehow erodes the worth of straight marriage is also bizarre. Marriage is a contract between the two individuals involved, and God if your beliefs carry you that way, so if I were to conduct a ceremony with a chicken and call it marriage, it wouldn't change the significance of your own union.

Likewise, the joining of two people of the same sex who love each other should have no impact on you, no matter how strange it may seem to you.

So much of what happens in straight marriage destroys its own sanctity. Abuse, power games, subjugation of women, desperate clinging to a situation because it's what society expects. At least when gay people get married, they're not doing it because of external pressure, but because of genuine sentiment and often in the face of harsh criticism.

And that as far as I'm concerned, is what true love is really about.

- Georgina Guedes is a freelance writer. You can follow @georginaguedes on Twitter.

Send your comments to Georgina

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

- News24