Lifestyle

The Gay Marriage Bill – Why They Made The Right Decision

Yesterday was an extremely important day for gay men and women in the UK; the Governments turn to see whether this bill will pass the first stage.

You see, a bill has to go through numerous stages before it is officially passed and made into a law in Britain. The worrying thing is most people do not have much faith in our Government on many “everyday” laws and debates, but we had to watch them decide whether Gay marriage will become legalised in the UK.

You could watch the debate in the House of Commons, and it made interesting viewing. Many Tories voted AGAINST legalising gay marriage, and turned against Cameron, who voted FOR. Doesn’t hold much hope if his own party don’t even agree with him. Luckily, Labour and the Lib Dems helped Cameron and the majority voted FOR legalising gay marriage, and now the bill trots off to the House of Lords.

I was relieved; I am not gay, but I do have gay friends who are in gay relationships. It dawned on me just how unfair this must be for them.

My friend told me stories about how she was scared of “coming-out” to her parents, because her parents were middle-classed and wanted to be seen as “perfect”. Having a lesbian daughter would bring shame on their values and so she hid it from them. Not only was she struggling to go through the mind-process, and emotions of being gay, but also the fact she felt she would not be accepted by her own flesh and blood. Luckily, she eventually told them, and was surprised by how understanding they were; if curious. Her close friends were exactly the same, accepting her for who she was. She has been in a lesbian relationship for over 4 years now, and when we do meet up, she talks to me about her girlfriend like a lovesick puppy, but also brings up topics of conversation like any other person in a relationship would bring up. So why shouldn’t they be allowed to get married? If they feel love for someone, why can’t they commit? Sure, people say these days that no-one needs a piece of paper to show their commitment, but to them, maybe they would like to have that special day to show everyone that they have met someone they want to spend the rest of their life with?

It actually sickens me that some people were against it in Parliament, and that some people did not even vote. A huge chunk of our society was depending on politicians to see whether they are granted the right to get married, and there were people actually willing to stop them from having their “Happy ever after”.

Our generation is an inspiring generation in a way. Sure, we get bad press for other reasons, but I think our generation is the first of many that accept people for what they are and who they are. Of course, with the odd exception, but the majority of us wouldn’t bat an eyelid if a friend came out as gay; we seem to just handle it a lot better than our predecessors.

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