42 days: Andy Jacobson

This post is a guest post for the 42 days series. Learn more here!

I’m going to tell you upfront, I’m not a very political person. The most political I get is researching the candidates around elections. Honestly, that’s as political as I want to get. I don’t want to protest or debate. I’d rather just live my life, find a nice guy and settle down. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do this with the restrictions put on my relationship.

In order to have a normal life, I am tossed into the political battles and forced to defend myself on a regular basis. The way I see it, the issues presented here aren't political, on either side. It is very personal. The reasons people support equal marriage are to help the people they love in times of need, for example: to be there in the hospital when someone is hurt or joint adoption or custody of a child if something were to happen to one parent. The reason people oppose it are fundamentally religious. Trying to convince people that something that isn't causing harm to anyone is immoral, that is only something that comes from the misuse of religion. One side is personal and the other religious, neither of which the government has any say in. Our personal freedoms are meant to be protected and though the phrase “separation of church and state” isn't in our founding documents, it is something the US government has supported. This amendment is doing something worse than ignoring gay marriage, it’s specifically meant to

ban it. The way it is worded, it is giving specific rights to specific people, and denying it to anyone who doesn't fit that definition. This is fine for felons or people who have harmed others, that’s part of their punishment, but what the hell did we do?

Andy Jacobson is a junior at SCSU, studying music, and working as a Community Adviser.