A major issue at the time was the Hawaii legislature holding a special session to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii.
It passed and marriage licenses will start being issue this coming Monday (December 2).
I did record 2 videos for YouTube on this topic which you can watch at
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN_thOT6ga8
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Speech on Homophobia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11_jAgUTK_g
And another video, this time from a testimony to the legislature by geneticist Dean Hamer telling them that sexual orientation is something you're born with. Conservative legislator Bob McDermott asked what he thought would be a slick question to through Dean Hamer off guard. Dean Hamer hit a homerun with his answer. You can view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8H5hJz52E
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And now excerpts from a previous blog post on the same-sex marriage issue http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/05/obama-evolution-and-same-sex-marriage.html
I was NEVER a religious conservative. I had NEVER agreed with them on sex-ed, birth control, abortion, porn, or most other sexual issues.and more
I was NEVER raised in a religious conservative home! While my extended family had a mix of Catholics and Mormons, my parents never raised us in a religious tradition. Yes, they had books on spirituality. Yes, they had belief in a higher power, but they also believe that we shall find our own spiritual path instead of being force-fed religion from an early age!
However, when I found out about how homosexuals got their pleasure, my first reaction was "EWWWWW!" and "Yuck". That's probably the reaction of most straight male teenagers, regardless of whether they grew up in a religious or non-religious home! And for most of us, this led to negative feelings about homosexuals.
This is where mature proper guidance and exposure to information comes in. Me and my older brother were making negative comments about gays, and my mother would not tolerate that! My father was totally silent on the issue. My mother emphasized that we should respect others even if they were different. My mother was right!
Meanwhile, in high school, I would spend a lot of time in the library reading books about controversial issues. They ranged from gang violence, racism, drug addiction, colonialism, war, you name it! I was becoming an amateur sociologist before I even know what a sociologist was.
I also read books dealing with sex and gender. We're not just talking "Playboy" (though our past-times did include watching and reading such stuff at friend's homes when the adults weren't around). I'm talking about books on issues like sexual harrassment, sexual abuse, STDs, and then sexual orientation.
This was when I learned the horrible reality of what homosexuals had to go through growing up. Feeling like crap because while their peers are happily checking out the other gender, they felt alone and isolated because they find themselves being attracted to "the wrong gender". And even worse, their peers are making negative remarks about those "attracted to the wrong gender". And many gay teens wouldn't want to publicly admit how they really feel, because they KNOW they'll never see the end of peer abuse! This leads to self-hate and suicide!
YIKES! All the guilt I felt now, knowing that! All the guilt now because I once debated against same-sex marriage in a social studies class with homophobic jokes. I could've been insulting the very heart of my peers and not even know it!
Not easy to live with that!
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Later, I found a shocking revelation about one of my uncles. I would call him "Uncle Pat". He was my mom's sister. I would always enjoy long conversations with Uncle Pat about my topics, and I considered him one of my favorite relatives. He was a very friendly guy.
He was also having health issues. I kept hearing about Uncle Pat having diabetes. However, I later remembered one time I was in my grandma's home, the topic of Uncle Pat came up. She mentioned about Uncle Pat having HIV. My mind was "wait a minute, everyone kept mentioning diabetes". Then my mind became curious, so I asked grandma "how did he get it?". Then she told the truth --- he got it from one of his friends that I had vaguely heard about it!
That's how I learned the truth about Uncle Pat, something that was kept secret from many relatives. I didn't even know he was homosexual until that conversation with grandma. He was never a cross dresser, never wore stereotypical feminine colors, didn't limp his wrists, didn't talk like those stereotypical "mahus" that everyone kept joking about!
I learned from my mother that this was something Uncle Pat was struggling with for decades. She was always the closest sibling to Uncle Pat, and this was why my mother was against homophobia. At first, my grandma wasn't happy when she learned about Uncle Pat's sexual orientation. My grandma did grow up in a traditional Catholic family. My Uncle Pat then told my grandma straight up "do you think I like being this way?" My grandma then understood.
Uncle Pat died from AIDS related illness in 2002! I had long conversations with my mom and my grandma about Uncle Pat and the struggles he went through. My mother said "very few will ever understand the struggles Uncle Pat went through".
Uncle Pat said before his death that he didn't want a funeral. We respected his wishes. Though if he did have a funeral, I would have wanted to make a speech to honor him.
It is now a decade later. It is still emotionally hard thinking about this. I feel very bad about saying things that would have offended Uncle Pat and millions like him who struggle with having to live a secret life because many people are mean-spirited about those with different sexual orientations.
Now, many people might say "I don't hate the LGBT, but I won't be comfortable seeing 2 men or 2 women holding hands or kissing".
You know what? You'll eventually get used to seeing it!
It's their business, not yours!
