Same-sex marriage is not special; it is just marriage.  In the United States, we have something called the separation of church and state.  This means that religion is not supposed to influence political decisions.
On June 26, 2015, I woke up and went into my living room. The TV was loud, it was displaying many colors.  There were people of all ages, gender identities, and races, all of them filled with victory.  I began crying and my mother did not understand why.  I explained to her that she was alive during what we call the civil rights movement; that even though she was white, she saw history change right before her eyes, and it was impactful on her.

People of other colors became equal during her lifetime; I was watching my very own civil rights movement prevail.  Only this time it was for Lesbians, Bisexuals, Pansexuals, Gays, and every single other label humans like to place upon themselves.  This civil rights movement may not seem as black and white as the one from the 60’s, but it is just as important. 

We still have yet to achieve full equality, we still have to walk outside of our closets in the morning, fresh, and ready for the day; only to face discrimination everywhere we look, unless you live in West Hollywood. This has been my moment of realization that humans are not equal in America, that the prized freedom we so highly value is not as real as we think.  We are deceitful to ourselves if we think that America is really equal.  With people who do not see the injustice in stripping away a right from a specific group of people, how is it possible to have equality?

I have realized that the reason I so passionately support LGBTQ+ rights is because I support human rights.  I firmly believe that true freedom, equality, or justice can only be attained by destroying the mindset that we already possess it.  If one group does not have it, then none of us have it. If none of us have it, then we all need to pursue it.  My hope is that we will continue to fight for all civil rights, no matter how big, how small, how they appear to directly or indirectly affect us, how they are perceived religiously, or otherwise.