An amazing letter

If you are part of the LGBTQ community than you would no doubt have heard of at least one of the "marriage" campaigns that have been actively working to achieve equal rights for those of non-heterosexual orientation to get married.  I am not stating that I necessarily believe in the concept of marriage, but I certainly believe I should have the right to get married to the person of my choosing should it ever happen.

In Australia, that campaign is called Equal Love and although we have taken steps there is still a long way to go.  But one would need to be blind and deaf in our community to have not heard of Prop 8 (California, USA) and the various success stories that we have heard from all over the world - most notably those countries where LGBTQ people can already get married legally.  Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia to show which countries have legalised same-sex marriage:

The Netherlands in 2001 was the first country to legalize same-sex marriages, with the first marriages performed in the Amsterdam city hall on 1 April 2001. Since then, same-sex marriages have been recognized legally by Belgium (2003), Spain (2005), Canada (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway (2009), Sweden (2009), Portugal (2010), Iceland (2010), and Argentina (2010).

I must have heard about Mexico City (2010) allowing same-sex marriage before I heard about Argentina. The reason I say this is because when I heard that Mexico City was allowing same-sex marriage, I almost cried.  Not with tears of joy (although I am happy that Mexicans have that right) but because the so called great country that I lived in (aka Australia) was still so backwards and behind the times that a third world country was stepping ahead of us in terms of equal rights for its citizens. I have never been to either Mexico or Argentina, but I think I can safely say that these are countries where religion (particularly the Roman Catholic faith) plays a large part of the community.  And yet they have changed their laws to allow same-sex marriage. Why is Australia so incapable of realising the harm and brutality it is inflicting on its citizens by not granting the same rights to all??

The following link (http://postcultureshock.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-iowa-state.html) was written by an American to her congresswoman and of all the heartfelt pleas that I have heard on this topic this is definitely one I feel resonated with me tremendously.  I hope that it resonates with others too and that many people re-blog this link.