This will probably get some panties in a bunch...

This was my final exam for English 101.
Our assignment this time was to write a fantasy or science fiction account of the future and compare and contrast that account with the present.

Some of the names have remained the same to accuse the guilty...(i'm funny, people like me)

Marriage: A Union of Love Not Gender


It was a crisp Thanksgiving afternoon when Matthew came bounding out of the car exclaiming “Nanna! Nanna! I baked the pumpkin pie with mommy!” Matthew was about to turn eleven and so sure he was going to be famous chef like his Uncle Nick. It seems like only yesterday I was holding him in my arms for the very first time. Matthew is my oldest grandchild, his brother Andrew is the youngest at the ripe old age of 8. Andrew has no use for cooking and cleaning or housework of any kind for that matter. He is all boy, puppy dog tails and all. Matthew can play Tonka trucks and swing a baseball bat with the best of them, but he prefers being in the kitchen with his Nanna and Memaw baking goodies for the family. Its days like these that make me so proud that I was a part of equal rights movement.

Shortly after Brandy’s 36th birthday we decided it was time to start our family. I was 33 and in my second year at Temple Law in Pennsylvania. We had been together 8 years by this point and Brandy had sacrificed so much for me. I owed her that baby she always wanted. Brandy had moved to Philadelphia with me 3 years ago so that I could pursue my dreams of law. She had her degree from High Point University in accounting and secured a job overseeing the financial concerns of my Grandfather’s construction company, Dale Construction. Although we couldn’t go about things the “traditional way” and get married before the kids, we were excited none the less, with our bundle of joy on the way. Brandy and I decided on an anonymous donor so as not to alienate any family members and set about to the business of baby making. We discovered that Brandy was pregnant on March 20th and on Halloween 2010 Lily Grace was born. She had Brandy’s bright blue eyes and devilish grin. Lily was absolutely perfect in everyway! Four years later on December 11th Nicholas Wyatt was born.

We had two beautiful children, fabulous careers and a 2-story colonial in the suburbs but something just didn’t gel. We were happy, very happy in fact but for some reason we didn’t feel whole. That reason had been resting on the floor of the Senate for 3 years. Amendment XXVIII would sit on the floor in heated debate for another 9 years. Finally, in on January 22, 2024 two days after the swearing in of Hillary Rodham Clinton as the first woman President of The United States of America, the amendment or family had been praying for was written into law. Amendment XXVIII to the US Constitution states, “The right of citizens of the United States to marry shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” So it was official, we could finally be a real family without bureaucracy and bigotry forcing us into a civil union.

The wedding was set for September 24, 2024. Brandy wore a beautiful white beaded empire waist gown with a bouquet of calla lily’s and red roses. I wore a red floor length gown with crown of lily’s in my hair. I always looked better in red. It was an outdoor ceremony performed at a little bed and breakfast in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I’ll never forget how beautifully the sun reflected in Brandy’s strawberry blond curls and the way that her eyes twinkled at the sight of our children walking hand in hand down the isle with the rings. We finally were a real family. Our children went on to school and marriages of their own. Lily married a Marine from Texas and gave birth to Matthew and Andrew a few years later. Nick married an artist from Peru and gave us our only granddaughter, Taylor. It is so hard for my grandchildren to believe me when I tell them that there was a point in our history when their grandmother’s were not allowed to be married. This Thanksgiving, we thanked our legislature for seeing fit to legally grant us our right to love.

In comparing this scenario with today one can not overlook the harsh realities. It is truly illegal for same sex couples to wed anywhere in the United States and have that union recognized by the Federal Government or any other state for that matter. I’m not sure why anyone would want to deny US citizens the basic right to marry (i.e.: pursuit of happiness) for any reason, much less sexual orientation. The only logical reason I can come up with is fear. People are afraid of what they don’t understand. Galileo was put to death for heresy over ideals that the church just didn’t understand. African Americans weren’t allowed to marry until after the Civil War and only 37 years ago, mixed race couples were given the right to marry according to ReligiousTolerance.org. That seems absurd in this day and time to think that was even a possibility. Due to the evolution of ideas, many subjects that once were taboo are now a common occurrence among present day families. I predict that in 40 years the majority of the population won’t even bat and eye at a same sex couple walking down the street and holding hands. As the population becomes more educated on a subject the acceptance of the subject grows. It’s just a fact of life.

Religion plays a large factor in this debate over marriage. Marriage to a number of Christian organizations is considered “ordained by God” and considered a symbol of Christ’s relationship with the church. This viewpoint totally alienates atheist and agnostics which are a growing population in the US today. That also brings us to the separation of church and state. America was founded on this principle and that somehow gets egregiously overlooked by law makers in this country. Somehow, I’m sure; the inability for the races to marry came about by some random religious reason as well. In the future, we may look back and try and realize what the big deal was with this debate. However, I’m sure then there will be an issue that is the new “gay marriage” of that time that causes just as much of a divide.