Question: When did you know marriage equality was a human right?

[DFab420]

When did you know within yourself that two people, no matter their gender or sexual orientation, deserved to be happy and treated equal in the eyes of the government?

[Orsino]

1. The eighties, or maybe earlier.

Knowing a few openly gay people personally cemented my support for equality.

[Jitter65]

2. When i saw or sat with dying friends and family with AIDS. In the 80's nt

[Scuba]

3. Decades ago. Hard for me to understand what took some so long.

[jillan]

4. I don't know if this belongs in the primary forum but I will answer your question.

In the 80s. There was a gay couple living on my street. We were a very close neighborhood, everyone knew everyone's name, we were all friends.

The gay couple had been together for ever and they were one of the happiest couples out of all of us hetero couples. They were a great couple. I realized at that time it shouldn't matter who you marry. What mattered more was happiness.

[DFab420]

6. Given the opinions of the primary opponents I think it's at least viable to talk about in here.

[Krytan11c]

5. When I was 16

So in 2003. This is around the time I began to get interested in politics.

[SwampG8r]

7. 1974 was the first time i was asked

I said people should marry who they want.
16 years old

[mythology]

8. Sometime in my teens (the 90s)

I don't remember specifically a point, but I generally try to make things equitable and that's an obviously unequal status.

[katsy]

9. Always

When you're loved. When you feel love for others. You get it. We're all the same in our desires and hopes.

My parents are my heros. They made my life a rainbow of diversity. My 2nd babysitters were a lesbian couple. I always thought they were married just like my mom and dad until I grew up and socialized outside my family. That seemed a wrong deeper than any. There's never ever enough love in this world. All of it should be treasured.

It's unnatural to deny people the ability to commit.

[Bayard]

10. I've had gay friends

Never thought that much about it till everyone else started to make a big deal about it. I've always figured what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedroom is their business.

[Fumesucker]

11. Mid to late Sixties I suppose, before then I was too young to really have thought about it

Even though it wasn't a topic of conversation then if you had asked me if two gays should be able to get married I believe I would have said "why not?". My parents knew quite a few gay men in particular from the antiques crowd and if anything they were nicer to me than most straights. Then in the mid 70's I married into a family heavily into the arts and theater and gays were and are a major part of that scene.

[LostOne4Ever]

12. I was born in 1982....so since 1982.

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]I have always thought government had no business telling LGBTQ people that loved each other that they could not marry.

The only difference is that my views went from a right libertarain stance when I was a kid, to a left/civil libertarian as a teen/young adult.

Position has never changed.[/font]

[One_Life_To_Give]

13. Recent Convert

Only in the last decade have I come to realize Marriage and all that entails is a Human Right. It wasn't till I was seeing news stories about people not able to visit dying partners that I realized anything less than Marriage would not suffice. Guess I am a slow learner.

[bunnies]

14. It was never a question for me.

Marriage is a legal contract between two people. Whatever two people want to enter into the contract is of no concern to me.

[auntpurl]

15. I was 10 when my uncle came out as gay.

So, 1982.

Marriage equality is one of those things that not only am I in favour of, I find it really hard to understand why anyone else isn't. How are gay people hurting anyone by getting married? I've never understood that.

And yes, I am a Hillary supporter. Although I find it hard to understand the other side of this particular issue, I do understand that people are religious (I'm not and never have been) and have their own beliefs. I am glad that people "evolve" on this and other issues - like Obama, Hillary has evolved. I don't hold it against her - I'm just glad she got there. Dan Savage said the same thing. He said something like (paraphrasing) "If we keep punishing people for views they used to hold, what incentive do they have to keep progressing?"

[ieoeja]

16. I evolved on the issue.

First time I heard it suggested, I thought, "that's crazy because ... well, I can't think of any reason, so actually, yes, why shouldn't they get married. In fact, they absofuckinglutely should be allowed to marry!"

I evolved in less time than it took me to write this post.

[Third Doctor]

17. I'm pretty recent.

I evolved slowly. In my teens I was against it because I was raised in a family that had conservative views on the subject. After that I had a ambiguous I don't care attitude. In my 30's I had gotten to the acceptance of civil unions. Five or 6 years ago I came to the conclusion that marriage is a human right and it should not be dictated to anyone based on any one group's preferences. Equal treatment under the law.

[DemocraticWing]

18. When I realized I wasn't straight...sometime in my teenage years.