The other day I wrote a piece on the Chick-Fil-A item going on around. I did get one fact wrong (and commented on the piece stating as such), that they are a private and not a public company. That out of the way, it is time to take a stance one way or the other.

When I originally wrote my other post I assumed this was going to be like the Oreo rainbow ad. I expected a small flare up and this would just go away. Since it is gaining momentum I’m not sure it will. This incident which is meaningless in a grand scheme is a spark that has been attached to kindling. The fire is has been lit and it just keeps growing. Little incidents by themselves can be meaningless. They can also lead to social change.

In 1955 someone was told they had to ride in the back of a bus. This was something posted and mentioned several times a day. This was the social norm that maintained separate but equal. It was just a bus line in the south maintaining their perfectly legal business rights to tell people where to sit. On December 1st, 1955, something was different. Someone said no. This social spark lit the kindling that gave the civil rights movement until separate but equal was abolished.

Let’s go back for a moment to the 1980s. My father did not like homosexuals. He had issues that his five-year-old liked listening to the Village People. He complained openly about disliking Boy George, I assumed at the time it was because of woman’s clothing. I didn’t understand.

I’m not sure if I even understood what gay was in high school. In high school, my group of friends (me included) mocked a couple of guys for being gay. In some instances, it was really bad. In this day and age it would definitely be considered gay bashing. I don’t think any of us truly thought they were gay. It was wrong.

About ten years ago I was at the point where I knew what it was, I just didn’t want to see it. Homosexuals could do whatever they wanted behind closed doors. If I didn’t see it, then it did not affect me at all. This changed when I was living in Oregon.

I mentioned that thought process during one of our Wednesday martini outings in downtown Eugene. I brought it up because a lesbian couple was cuddling and kissing as they were walking by. Another girl who came with a co-worker stated that she was a lesbian and had a problem with that thinking. She asked me if I had a problem with a heterosexual couple kissing in public. I responded that I didn’t. She said she did have a problem with heterosexuals carrying on in public.

How do you respond to that? You can try to defend that it’s always been that way. You could try the mightier-than-thou Christian angle (which while I am Christian, I don’t believe in that stance). You can kind of just admit defeat. I think I had a couple more comebacks to save face, but she won the discussion.

That exchange stuck with me and eventually changed my viewpoints. I called my father since that was my first memory of the subject. He is where I was ten years ago. He never had that girl at the corner to challenge and erode his thoughts. That’s fine. I have no hatred to those that aren’t there yet. It doesn’t mean they are anti-gay, they just still have a bridge to cross.

I believe in equality for every person. I don’t care if they are a man, a woman, different races, different sexual preferences, or transgendered. Everyone deserves equal rights. One friend on Facebook wrote the following:

This could be the HR Nerd in me – but isn’t it also the American way? “Treat every person with honor, dignity and respect –regardless of their nationality, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender”

We can’t pretend that homosexuals do not deserve to be married because of some ancient book. If you truly believed that, you should allow them to get married and burn in hell. How does their marriage affect yours? Marriage is a legal contract. If you view it the way it is intended, religion has no place in it. Marriage existed in the civilizations in North America before Christianity ever spread here. I don’t know if there were gay marriages, but it was about loving the one you are with.

In my lifetime I knew prejudice existed and social norms can change. I have watched from a time when it seemed that homosexuals didn’t exist to being friends with a couple in my life. It used to be they hid in the closest, but for the most part, they can be openly gay in society now. When I was a child interracial couples were frowned upon. Mixed couples received strange looks and condescending stares from the society around them. It’s nothing strange today.

If you had told me when I was in school that there would be another civil rights battle that would exist in my lifetime I wouldn’t have understood. I would have thought everyone is free and equal. As an adult, I can realize that this is another civil rights battle that needs to be fought.

I don’t like the term pro-gay marriage. I’m pro-equality. I don’t believe in separate but equal. Five years ago I would have been pro-civil unions as a compromise in this situation. It’s not a compromise though. It is separate but equal. This is something that fifty years ago our country fought against. Something that my whole I was taught was wrong. The people of my generation have had this indoctrinated into us as being wrong, you should be ashamed that you can not see the similarities. There can be no separation there can only be the ratification for marriage to consist of two people that are of legal age and are capable of entering a legally binding contract.

To those that spout that gay marriage leads to pedophile marriage or bestiality. Individuals under the age of eighteen cannot enter into a legal contract. In theory, some states allow you to marry under eighteen, but your parents sign the papers and enter into the contract for you. Animals and non-human objects have no legal standing and can not enter into a contract.

A corporation can enter into a legal contract, but a marriage attempt was found void. I think people marrying corporations would really be the only thing you would have to worry about. Without being able to enter a legal contract (or have redneck crazy parents sign for you) any other scenario would really be null and void.

I promote and live by a pro-equality stance. If that means you hate me – I’m fine with that. If that means you unfriend me on a social network – do what you feel you to do to sleep well at night. I’ll still be here. I won’t unfriend you for thinking differently. I will be a constant reminder of the issue just by sitting on your friend list. Maybe I can be for you, what the girl on martini night was for me. Anything is possible and society can change.

This is the social change that is happening. Some people will sit on the sideline. They are intimidated and don’t want to take sides. You could say that these people are still in the closet on this whole issue. I guess this post states which side I am on. I stand by my beliefs and think everyone should just believe in the founding founders when they said they hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.