Why We Need Marriage Equality
I’ll let WWII veteran Phillip Spooner explain. He does a better job than I ever could.
Partial transcript (full transcript at the link):
[…]
I am here today because of a conversation I had last June when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me, “Do you believe in equal, equality for gay and lesbian people?” I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her, “What do you think our boys fought for at Omaha Beach?” I haven’t seen much, so much blood and guts, so much suffering, much sacrifice. For what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that give America a great nation, one worth dying for.
I give talks to eighth grade teachers about World War II, and I don’t tell them about the horror. Maybe [inaudible] ovens of Buchenwald and Dachau. I’ve seen with my own eyes the consequences of caste systems and it make some people less than others, or second class. Never again. We must have equal rights for everyone. It’s what this country was started for. It takes all kinds of people to make a world war. It does make no sense that some people who love each other can marry and others can’t just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in World War II. That idea that we can be different and still be equal.
I don’t think it’s really been on the radar here at Delaware Liberal but there is a vote in November in Maine on a proposition to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Marriage equality was passed by Maine’s legislature and signed by the governor but foes of marriage equality are tireless. If you feel like helping out, you can contact the No on 1 campaign.
Tags: Maine, Same Sex Marriage
Don’t read the transcript. Watch the video. It is touching and inspiring and mere words on a page can do it no justice.
I’ve been meaning to watch this video, and I’m so glad I did. Beautifully said.
Bravo, Mr. Spooner. Well said.
Wow.
I’d be willing to bet, based upon the veterans I knew who were actually part of the D-Day landing, that gay marriage was not among the things that any of them thought they were fighting for.
And yet equality was. Which is really his point. Come to think of it, I seriously doubt that many of them thought they were fighting for equal rights for people with dark skin, or other ethnicities, or women. They were fighting for American values, which means that we are always trying to do better and to be more equal, instead of maintaining, like George Orwell said, “some animals are more equal.”
Well, let’s be clear. They were fighting for each other. Not for democracy or the flag or any other symbol. They were fighting to not get killed–An honorable thing to do if you ask me.
I’ve walked the Normandy beaches and came away humbled by their accomplishments but let’s not get carried away with the idea that there was some greater cause in the minds of the soldiers departing from the landing craft that day.
let’s not get carried away with the idea that there was some greater cause in the minds of the soldiers departing from the landing craft that day.
Good thing they are all 80 years old or you might be suddenly missing some teeth about now.
Why do you say that? Do you really think that they had patriotic visions dancing in their heads as they went ashore?
Yes, actually, I do.
Sure they were fighting for each other. But, in my family, at least, the men left good jobs and families to go do something they thought was right. They weren’t there to pick up a little money, or because they weren’t able to get civilian jobs, or instead of jail. They went because they thought it was important, and they lived through some terrible times believing in what they fought for.
If you don’t know people like that, I’m sorry for you.
Well said, Brooke. I know my grandfather joined the army because he thought he was saving democracy, which he was.
Nothing to be sorry for. I’m not trying to question anyone’s motives. A good friend of mine received two Purple Hearts in Vietnam and he’ll freely tell you he volunteered (not drafted) because he thought it would be an adventure. I believe his story is common.
I think most men on some level would have wanted to experience combat. I’ve no data to back that up- It’s just a hunch.
My worry is that the more we romanticize this the easier it makes it to send young men to war. I only want to see it made harder to do that. I really am not trying to impune any individual’s motives. Honest.
I think the generations differ somewhat. WWII was total war. America had been attacked on its own ground, and the generation who went had grown up during the Depression, and had a quite different version of what “hardship” was. The war itself was center stage for everyone.
The Vietnam war had more in common with Korea. It was something that existed more on the fringes of American concerns, and the folks who went had a correspondingly lower visibility. So I don’t think they are as representative of their generation (being a more select group) as the WWII vets. Sample size, kwim?
But I share your distaste for romanticizing war. 🙁
Just buried a D-Day vet back in February — he was landing craft crew and was the guy who opened the ramp at the front of the LC for multiple waves of troops swarming ashore.
He was one of the most decent, patriotic men I ever knew — and my wife and I will be spending a part of the weekend with his widow, who he married when he returned to the US in December of 1945.
And he was a proud Democrat. He and I argued politics frequently, and I will miss those battles until the day I die. He was old enough to be my grandfather, but I was blessed to call him a friend.
But I know he would have respectfully disagreed with the guy you quote so approvingly on this issue.