There is less than 100 days until the November elections and Minnesota freedoms are in the crosshairs. I'm mainly talking about the Anti-Marriage amendment that wants to amend our constitution to define marriage as one man and one woman. Now this as a law is bad enough but as an amendment it would be that much worse, to overturn an amendment you need a 2/3 majority and we all know how hard a 1/2 majority is to get.
But with all the support I give to MN United for All Families I've been kind of quiet when it comes to why. Yes, limiting marriage is wrong, and come May 19th I will be related -in a way- to two wonderful gay men who deserve to have their marriage recognized by their home state. But that's not my whole story, for me it started back in eighth grade.
My middle school every year went to a young writers conference at a local college. I went every year, it was fun, it was a day off from school. Well, we weren't the only school, so of course I met different people. This particular year I kept seeing this guy around and thought he was beyond cute; short blond hair, punk rocker look, killer smile. Well, me being me I never got up the nerve to talk to him. Until the last session of the day. It was in an auditorium and while everyone, and usually me, was sitting up front within the first few rows of the stage, but that cute guy was sitting in the back all by himself and I decided to try my luck and sit by him. When he started talking to me I thought it was my lucky day, when he had to leave early but gave me his number I thought I had won the teenage girl lottery. So, of course I called him, we talked everyday for two weeks, Then he mentioned a problem he was having with his boyfriend, and I made the comment that of course all the good ones are gay. That's when the ball dropped.
The guy that I was attracted to was actually a girl.
Needless to say she stopped talking to me, was completely offended. And I was shocked, because even though I knew he was actually a she my attraction was still there, and I was confused beyond belief. But I shoved it all away because she would never talk to me again and it was pointless to dwell on it.
At least that's what I thought until the summer before my senior year of high school. A friend of mine was hosting a bon fire and I went. There I met a girl who my friend introduced as "the lesbian" (we'll refer to her as P from now on) . My friend meant it as a joke, no one really cared. Well, while my friend played host I got to talking to P, she was really cool, getting ready to go to Ecuador on a mission trip. Well, we swapped cell numbers and started texting and later that week she needed help making stuff to take with her on her trip and I volunteered to help. So we were making beaded bracelets and talking and then I mentioned that the last person I met with her name (I'm keeping the name private by the way) was this person I met at a writer's conference who I thought was a guy and was actually a girl.
And because fate has a way of being funny, she was the one I had met at the writer's conference. The world seemed so tiny at that moment.
We of course talked about before and how she realized that she was gay after she broke up with that boyfriend. And then I mentioned how confused I was after that two weeks, but that ever since if I dated anyone it was a guy. She mentioned that I should explore, but that she was happily taken. We left it at that and she went to Ecuador. When she came back though she said that she had thought of me more while she was gone, then she had thought of her actual girlfriend. I was flattered, but she was still taken.
We went to see a movie, and as we were driving her girlfriend called. They got into a big fight and broke up. Our movie then turned into a date. We dated a few times before she had to go to camp and she called it off to try it again with her old girlfriend. I was hurt but left it at that, we still talked though.
Then one night I was at a release party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when I got a text from her saying she and her girlfriend had split for good. So we gave it another go. But after two weeks she called it off for good and we stopped talking.
Now, that was the only time I was ever attracted to a woman, and I identify as straight. But sexuality is fluid, not always fixed. So if I'm ever attracted to another woman why should I suddenly lose the rights I have now? What about me will change so much that will make me less of a citizen? It seems crazy, and wrong. And because of that I will vote no this November and will always support equal rights for every single human being.
