I'm Just Gonna Put it Out There

After finding out that two of my friends had to defend their vote for Obama to their friends and family, I just want to say how glad I am that my family is so supportive....of everything that I do. I've made some pretty crazy and bad choices in my life (New York, that thing in Vegas), but they always love me and support me, even if they don't support the choice I made. Maybe they didn't get my subtle hints of voting for change (read: I voted for Obama), but I like to think that they did...and it didn't matter to them. What I love about my family is that they're pretty open-minded.

(As a side note, I don't mean to say that my friends' families aren't supportive. I just wanted to say that I didn't get any flack from mone for voting the way I did. Hope this doesn't offend those friends who had to defend.)

And, to keep with this political strain, let me just say some things about Prop 8. This has been a hard thing for me to come to terms with. I'm still not sure I have, yet. I absolutely believe in marriage for all, regardless of sexual orientation. I don't enjoy the Church getting involved with it, and can understand why people feel the need to protest on Temple Square. But the LDS Church was not the only one involved. Read about Catholics supporting the church here.

Last night there was a protest at the temple here in Manhattan. I happened to be in the area just before it all started at 6:30 (the time I had to be at work) and saw some people walking with signs that read Prop h8. While I didn't attend this one in the city, I do have friends that attended the one in Salt Lake. And I have friends and co-workers that are gay. This is what some people in the gay community think about the protest last night; I love that he talks about Outreach being the solution, not Anger.

I don't know what's going to come of all this, and I'm trying to see the bigger picture and why the church would choose to get involved. I just don't like the blind hatred and ignorance on both sides of the issue. I believe that we should all just take care of ourselves and govern our own lives (which is why Marky Mark thinks, and confirmed by an on-line test, that I'm a left-leaning Libertarian). I have friends that believe strong on both sides, and I'm just stuck in the middle trying to defend my faith while defending what I believe should be a right to everyone.

But what's so great about America is that everybody is given the right to vote and protest as they see fit. Now if only we all had the right to be married.