The One About: Civil Rights

Nothing seems to get me more heated than a discussion on civil rights and liberties. For my own sake I am going to try to stay as far away from topical politics as I can and simply deliver my opinion on the matters of civil rights surrounding us today.

Here we are, in the year 2012 and we are still arguing about who should have the right to do what in this country. I'm a Christian, yes. I usually vote Democratic, sure. I've lived my life in one of the biggest cities in the country my entire life, fact. I say this because I believe this to be one of the biggest influences on the way that I think and form opinions. 

Why is it that most major cities vote blue? And little out of the way cities and states vote red? Political history? Perhaps. But what I have come to believe is that a majority has to do with what people have seen in their lifetime. Someone in a small town in southern Illinois, who has lived in a town with a few thousand people their entire life has not seen what someone living in Chicago has seen. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it no doubt effects their belief system. Someone who has not seen the poverty and oppression of blacks and hispanics will not have the same connection or sense of obligation to do something about it as someone who has lived on 79th and Blue Island in Chicago might. Someone who has never even met or talked to a gay person in their life may not be as willing to accept the fact that this group is in fact made up of people. People who just want the right to do what everyone else gets to do.

That being said, let me move onto something else. Southerners are known to be somewhat "bible thumpers". This can either be a good or bad thing depending on to who and how they are thumping that Bible around. But along with that, they are strong believers in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They often like to quote various amendments that give them the right to say what they want, publish what they want, and the right to shoot someone who comes onto their property expectantly. All of this is fine, but...what happened to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? Should gays not also have this right? And why is it that a lot of Christians just LOVE to throw out the verse in Leviticus about homosexuality yet they don't live their lives in accordance with the rest of the Bible? Oh, you have a tattoo of a cross on your arm? I'm sure God will love that, seeing as how tattoos are forbidden in Leviticus only a few verses after the infamous homosexuality verse. You're going to go watch Game of Thorns or some other porny crap? I'm sure God's word regarding lust and tearing out your eye if it causes you to sin because..."So if your eye--even your good eye--causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." (Matthew 5:29)  Why do Christians like to use the Bible to point out things someone else is doing wrong and make it seem like it is the most important thing in the Bible? It isn't. I'd love it if they took that kind of scrutiny and apply it to their own lives. No one is perfect and no one understands this better than I do .But nothing irritates me more than someones own self-righteousness. 

That being said...I've lived in Chicago my entire life. I've seen many unpleasant, unfair and unfortunate things. In a city with 9 millions people, how can you not? I've seen gay friends get beat up because they are gay. I've seen and heard my minority friends being harassed and treated differently than me. I've become sensitive to the plight of others. My personal conviction may be that homosexuality is a sin. But I don't agree with discrimination. And the ones who harp about the "sanctity of marriage"...marriage is a civil ceremony. You don't even have to get married in a fancy church or have a priest marry you. The divorce rate is 50% in this country. Celebrities are on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th marriages but you won't let Tim and John who may have been together for 10 years get married because it's a sin? Divorce is a sin. Most of what we do and say on a daily basis is a sin. Get over yourselves. 


Yes I will vote democratic as long as the GOP wants to discriminate. That's just how it is for me. The dems aren't perfect, but they stand for a bit more of what I want than the GOP does.

It isn't the lonely farmers fault that he doesn't get to witness the problems of the world around him. It isn't the small town family's fault that they live in their own utopia far away from the problems of certain groups. But it doesn't excuse hate and discrimination. It doesn't excuse willful ignorance. Get out there. See things. Experience the unpleasant. It will change your life. 

Someone once said, "If it isn't happening in your own back yard you don't believe it." This is true for many and sad for all.