The activist in me

Australia’s minister for immigration and citizenship, Chris Bowen, has released a statement this morning supporting his view on supporting the definition of traditional marriage in Australia, and will be voting accordingly.

http://www.chrisbowen.net/media-centre/allNews.do?newsId=6153

I couldn’t help but leave a comment stating how disappointed I am in his decision, but hey, he clearly lives in a seat bound by religious people, and if his view differed, it would hinder the chances of him retaining his seat in the next election.  That’s all I can see it as.  I can’t understand in my right mind why someone wouldn’t want the chance to change history for the better, in his position, in this lifetime. 

In future generations, if children could grow up seeing that it’s quite normal for anyone who loves each other to marry who they want, isn’t that a much peaceful thought?  For me growing up, when we saw two members of the same sex holding hands or god-forbid, kissing, the stigma was ‘Ewwwwww, what the heck is wrong with those people?’

When I was little, dad was flicking the televsion channels, and this was back in the 1990’s when the ABC used to televise the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras.  First words out of my father’s mouth were, "Should throw them all in a room and blow them up."

Wow.  Even I didn’t know I was gay back at that age, I think I must have been around 12 or so, although I’m probably off a few years.  But I knew what my father had just said did not sit well with me.  It was pure homophobia, brought on by such a strict religious view and upbringing.  
Sitting in church, every few Sundays, our Pastor would talk about homosexuality being an abomination.  I always sat there, my quiet little self, thinking, "but why?  How do they hurt anyone?"

So, when I was around 15, and started to realise that I had feelings for boys at my school, one in particular, but that’s another story.  Nowadays, of me in my 20’s when more and more people have gradually pushed aside their pure religious hypocritical views and realised, like I did, that gays aren’t hurting anyone, gays aren’t using ignorance as an excuse and all up in arms about straight people getting married, gays do fall in love with each other, just like anyone else does.  

It’s very hard for people who are religious to ignore one written piece of doctrine amongst all the other parts.  That’s why it was such a struggle for me growing up – fighting my natural feelings with what I’d had shoved down my throat throughout my entire childhood.  
It was only when I was 19, and I thought to myself, "If God didn’t want me to be myself, he wouldn’t have made me to have these feelings", and it was only then that I stopped the constant battle with myself and always feeling bad for myself.  If God did exist, I was taught that God is love and we are made in his image.  Ok, so explain that to me then religious people!

This is what religion does.  I understand atheists hate religion for their own reasons, but I certainly have my own reasons.  Rather than religion telling me that I’ve been blindsided and brainwashed by using the devil as an excuse, it’s me who finally came to my senses and understood that it was really religion all along that tried so hard to mould me into being a robot the exact way it’s already-converted followers wanted me to. 

So, because of that, whenever someone has a chance to change the marriage act in this country (like Mr. Chris Bowen) and they vote against it, I feel like 100% of the time that it is because of religious people holding onto 3000 years of history.  I realise it’s not 100%, but given what I’ve gone through, it feels like it is.

Oh, and I can bet anyone who disagrees with my view on this has a bible on their fucking head.