Change my Mind

Growing up in Franklin Square, New York religion was a part of everyday life. During the week as a child, I was required to attend weekly religion classes in which I learned about my faith. These classes consisted of classmates from each of the three different elementary schools in the district and allowed me and others to make new friends.  Becoming educated and learning about my faith was an important time of my life. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text which contains dogmas and teachings of the Church names “homosexual acts” as “intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law,” and names “homosexual tendencies” as “objectively disordered.” While the Catholic Church does not consider “homosexual orientation” sinful in and of itself, it does have a very negative attitude toward it.

As someone that grew up into a Catholic household and family, it was traditional for one to follow the beliefs of the Catholic church. In the essay, Tom Chatfield says, “that our thoughts do not really belong to us — not in the individual, analytical sense that most of us assume. They belong to our circumstances, our habits, our history, and our opportunities; to the systems granting or denying us options; to the people, we have been and are in the process of becoming.” This is an interesting statement as our beliefs and ideas are shaped by our lives. The people that are around you and the community in which you are raised in outlines what you will believe as you get older. With my parents being ones that are not very strict Catholics, there is a very loose interpretation in my household of what it means to be one. In the religion classes that I took, they mentioned that the Catholic Church frowns upon same-sex marriage. Being young I was inclined to believe what I was taught. With the idea in my mind that gay marriage is frowned upon I started to really think about it.

In my mind, I couldn’t really understand that fact once I really started to think about it. Why would this be frowned upon? If an individual loves another individual why should it matter what ethnic background, gender or race they are? Homosexuality is a normal variant of adult sexuality; gay men and lesbians possess the same potential and desire for sustained loving and lasting relationships as heterosexuals, including loving and parenting children. All these couples want is someone to love and care about them. By doing this they are not harming or hurting anyone in the process. It is only beneficial to them and society as we continue to become more understanding.

With my Aunt Cecilia and her best friend since college Denise, they have always been inseparable. Never stating that they were gay I always just considered them as best friends growing up. It was only until 2 years ago that they decided to further their relationship when they officially got married in New Mexico where they currently reside. With really no opinion on the topic of gay marriage except for my education in the religion class I never really gave it much thought except what I was told. When it was announced that they would be getting married I really thought to myself as to why anyone would be opposed to it. Seeing what love means to them from a first-person perspective showed me that there is no reason it should not be allowed. They are so happy together and as long as other people are happy I am very content with that.