“No freedom ‘til we’re equal. Damn right I support it.” –Macklemore

**WARNING: This post contains use of strong language, brutally honest opinions, and a defense of human rights and equality for all.

This blog post goes out to anyone who’s ever felt embarrassed or ashamed or afraid for the way they feel, because no matter who we are or who we love, we are all important. And no one should ever let anyone tell them differently.

Last night a friend of mine said something that won’t stop running through my head. “I think this whole gay thing is just a fad. People just go around saying it, and I don’t think this many people are all of the sudden gay.”

With everything I had in me, I bit my tongue and tried to go on in a polite manner telling her that I didn’t agree with what she said. But it took everything in me not to scream up and down the streets how ignorant she just proved to be.

She went on to tell me about how “some people actually take marriage really seriously” and “it’s a really important thing for them religiously, too.” And this is what really made me blow.

So, you mean to say with a divorce rate of over 50% in this country, and people getting hitched in Vegas, that there aren’t straight people that don’t take this “religious” sanction seriously? What about Britney Spears’s 24 hour marriage? How about your 18-year-old cousin getting married, is she more ready to be married than two men who have already been living and raising a family together?

After going on about how she thought “this whole gay thing” was a fad, she admitted she didn’t actually know any gay adults. Then the other girls, who had been going on about “Voting yes” to pass the marriage amendment and make gay marriage even more illegal in Minnesota, admitted they didn’t know any gay people. AT ALL. That is exactly why you don’t get to say that they shouldn’t be able to get married.

And furthermore, you know plenty of gay people you are so deep in your own little bubble that you don’t realize who is actually gay.

I went home ranting to another friend about the conversation I just had. This conversation deeply upset me, because I have friends and family who can’t be with the people they love because people who don’t know them decided they didn’t deserve to the same happiness as straight people.

The title quote comes from the song “Same Love” by Macklemore feat. Mary Lambert. He goes onto say:

“The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
I don’t know.”

But the most powerful part comes from Mary Lambert singing,

“And I can’t change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to.”

I encourage you to go listen to the song right now. But it’s not the only song that conveys the idea of not being able to change the way you’re born. Lady Gaga—who’s famous for supporting gay rights’—wrote “Born This Way”, a hit single in 2011.

“Whether life's disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied, or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
'cause baby you were born this way

No matter gay, straight, or bi,
Lesbian, transgendered life,
I'm on the right track baby,
I was born to survive.”

So no, to every ignorant a**hole who thinks that being gay is choice, it is something people are born with. And excuse me if I don’t see the appeal in being bullied and forced to stay in the dark about my sexuality, but I don’t think anyone would ever choose to be gay. I’m going to give you a straightforward comparison. Think about the one person you are attracted to most in the world. You just thought of that one person the second I said attracted, didn’t you? Now imagine if society told you that you couldn’t love them.

You aren’t supposed to love that person, and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure your life is a living Hell because you are f***ing moron. Who do you think you are, loving that person? Think Jessica Alba is hot? WRONG. How f***ing dumb are you? You don’t really love her.

Channing Tatum? No, ma’am. You might think you love him, but you’d be wrong. And you’re going to Hell for that, by the way.

After all, if we really are “One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all” shouldn’t we be trusting God and uniting as a people with freedoms for everyone?

God bless Washington, Maine, and Maryland for finally providing equality. And like my friend brought up over text last night, in fifty years they will judge us just as much as we judge the people who owned slaves. There’s “No freedom ‘til we’re equal. Damn right I support it.”