face-palm.

     Hi, guys.  Let's get political for a second.  We can do that, right?  We've known each other for a while, we can talk about the issues, yeah?  Ok, I'm glad we're in all agreement about that.

     So, Amendment One to the North Carolina state constitution effectively bans same-sex marriage.  NC isn't the first state to do this, but honestly, I'm more disappointed with every state that decides to take part in this nonsense.  Because, insultingly enough, same-sex marriage already wasn't legal there.  So I kind of feel like it was just a big obnoxious statement of beliefs, particularly religious ones-- except that religious beliefs don't really have a place in a state's constitution.  That is called theocracy, and it's pretty much exactly what the U.S. Constitution was set up to prevent.  But the religious aspect isn't really what I want to talk about.  Regardless of whether we're on the same end of the theological spectrum, I'm not here to knock anybody's belief system.  But I am going to knock behavior that is thoughtless, reckless, and dangerous.

     I'm lucky enough to live in a city that embraces a huge variety of cultural backgrounds, religions, gender identities, and sexual orientations.  However, not everyone has that same privilege.  Nobody disputes the level of tragedy when they hear about the suicides of gay teens who feel like the world is against them.  But these things don't just happen without any outside influence.  Nobody wants to think that their influence, no matter how big or small, could lead to an adolescent taking their own life, but that's the reality of the situation.  Amendment One and similar legislation in other states are a tidy little way to say, "Hey, if you love somebody who happens to be the same gender that you are, you don't deserve equal rights.  Your love is second-class.  Your feelings are less-than.  And just in case you don't feel enough disapproval as it is, let's slap a legal label on it."  Very few people think that in-school bullying of gay teens is acceptable, but legislation like this is bullying on a massive scale.  It's appalling.  If you keep repeating the same action, you will get the same result, and right now the result is a wave of young people killing themselves.  It's a growing number of families having to live with the loss of a child, niece, nephew, sister, brother, grandchild.  It's a huge number of kids growing up having the legally reinforced belief that they are not enough.  

It's not necessary, and it's not okay.