When we chose to attend college, we decided to open ourselves to a new environment and a deeper education. Of course, the parties and extracurriculars are nice, but those are just added benefits.
Education isn't just sitting in classrooms and reading from textbooks though. It's that motivation we feel to better ourselves as people. Part of bettering ourselves is opening our minds and accepting people who are different than us.
One big problem I see at Ball State University is the lack of acceptance many people show toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
Too many times a day I hear someone called a faggot or gay with the full intent of the slurs to be demeaning. Being gay doesn't make someone a lesser person. But, using it as a slur against someone else does make you a lesser person.
What's possibly more degrading is the fact that the GLBT community doesn't have the same rights as the straight community. Heterosexual couples enjoy the rights of marriage and the added benefits regarding taxes, inheritance, legal say and adoption while the majority of the nation's GLBT community is left out.
Straight couples also are allowed employment benefits for their partners and the ability to openly discuss their relationships while serving in the military. These too, are rights not granted to the GLBT community.
Some argue that marriage is a religious institution and shouldn't be governed, therefore the government shouldn't have any say on whether gay couples are allowed to marry and that it should be left to the church to decide.
To those people I ask: Where were you when the government decided that couples had to obtain licenses to get married? Or that married people could be given tax breaks, inherit their spouse's belongings should that spouse die, make medical decisions for one another or be allowed to adopt children, just because they're married?
A popular counterargument to my point is to allow gay couples to enter into civil unions. Civil union doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely as marriage does. Nor does it make it equal. It's like saying colored people still got their own bathroom just like whites, but it was of a much lower quality. Unequal is unequal, period.
Another roadblock for same-sex couples is the inequality of the corporate world. No law exists that requires businesses to grant the same benefits to gay couples as straight couples receive. Luckily, some businesses don't need a law to do the right thing and already grant gay couples the same benefits as straight couples. Ball State is one of these institutions.
Then we get to the point of the military's policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." It states that members of the GLBT community are allowed to serve in the armed forces, but only if they don't allow others to know they are gay. If they were to come out as being gay, those members would be dishonorably discharged. Gay people and straight people are equally proficient when it comes to stopping bullets, so it shouldn't matter what their sexual orientation is.
The most vocal opponents to same-sex couples are Christian fundamentalists who tout the Bible, specifically the book of Leviticus, as saying that same-sex marriage isn't allowed.
Leviticus also says one cannot curse their parents, cannot cut the hair on the side of their heads or trim their beards, cannot touch pig skin and cannot wear clothing made of two types of material. Not to mention it grants the ability to own slaves.
Should someone do any of these, they shall be struck dead or be cast aside, according to the Bible. Christian fundamentalists laugh off other rules Leviticus lays out, yet uphold the rules regarding homosexuality. It hardly seems fair.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Right now, six states in the nation allow gay couples to marry. Elsewhere in the world, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Norway and Sweden all allow same-sex marriages that have the exact same benefits as opposite-sex marriages.
Being a member of the GLBT community isn't the defining factor of that person any more than me being a straight person defines me. I'm a student, son, brother, boyfriend and numerous other things that define me as a person. The same should apply to members of the GLBT community.
In the end, they're people, and should be treated as such.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
