Agency is the greatest gift of God...

Monday night, November 7th, I had the opportunity of attending Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. It was a reading of 11 different short plays that were done simultaneously in 44 different theatres in America, Canada, and Australia. Before the readings they had a short live feed from New York on Broadway explaining a little about what these were about. Then the plays were read in each city. After the readings they had an open mic discussion with some of the writers in New York where you were able to send your questions to them via Twitter and they would answer them. It was a really neat experience. Most of plays were very comedic and really funny. There were a few, that I will admit, brought me to tears, they were very touching. Which got me thinking why do people fight gay rights so much? Especially the LDS faith I once attended.

All through my life I was taught and preached to about agency. Which according to the faith is the greatest gift of God. Meaning that we are free to choose how we want to live and punished accordingly. We are not forced to do anything we shouldn't because that was Satan's plan. So why do they fight so much to control that which is not what they believe? This is one of the big reasons that pushed me out of the faith. I couldn't stand the hate and fight they had with Prop 8 in California. The leaders of the faith asked members to donate their time and means to help fight Prop 8. Bishops went to homes of faithful members and personally asked them to donate money and waited for them to give them that money.

I couldn't abide by their stance anymore. I couldn't support the hate and this was when I first really stopped going to church. I felt more hate in my heart from the faith than ever before. And so I started asking questions; Why does it have to matter who you can and can't marry? Why is everyone so afraid of something that is different from themselves? Why was there so much hate in a religion that preaches love? I had to leave. The feelings I had were hurtful not only to me, but to others. And to see so many of my "friends" testify of the evils of homosexuality and to see that hate burn in their eyes turned me away. It was truly awful.

I started looking into it. I found more and more scientific evidence proving being a homosexual is not a choice and proving there is nothing unnatural about it. Many other animal species have homosexuality as well. And when you look at it, it is evolution. When you have an over population of a certain animal you will see homosexuality greatly increase. It's a way for mother nature to control populations. With 7 Billion people now on the planet it is not surprising that there are more and more homosexuals than ever before. So why shun them? Why hate them? Aren't they in a way ahead of us in an evolutionary stand point? Aren't they helping us and the planet?

Which brings me back to my original point. I believe everyone should have the right to marry who they love, LGBT or straight. We're all human. We all deserve the same basic rights. No one is better than anyone else. The hate the LDS faith and the Catholic church showed in their fight of Prop 8 is wrong. Jesus taught love everyone so why do they purposefully fight against those that are different?

That is one point that has always plagued my mind. That is one of the big issues I had with the LDS faith. They don't preach love. They don't preach harmony and temperance. And they certainly don't follow what they preach about agency. They are a faith of hate, just like every other religion I have studied. You are taught to think less of those that think different of you. You are taught that they cannot be truly happy without having the LDS gospel in their lives. The LDS faith teaches they are the one and only true church on the face of the planet. That if you are not part of this church in this life or the next you will forever be banned from heaven. That you will never live in the presence of God. I thought God was merciful, kind and forgiving. He/she/it isn't jealous, hateful, and unforgiving.

So I started to reach out. I found my own answers. I fought against them because it isn't about who you hate or you persecute or tear down that gets you to heaven, if there was a heaven (at least at that time I thought heaven may still exist). Heaven is for those that help one another. Treat others with kindness and fairness. Those that lift up one another and not tear them down. Just because someone is different does not mean that you make them feel unworthy and rejected.

So I stand with my friends and everyone else out there who is fighting the oppression. You are not alone. You have me as your ally and I will do all I can to make sure you have the right to marry who you want and to be yourself without receiving harm. You are wonderful and don't ever forget that. Keep fighting because one day we will win.

The tides are changing, slowly, but they are changing...