On same-sex marriages, from the angle of a parent, from the Front Page Sections, translated…
My daughter is engaged, her better half is a sweet girl. On a eucalyptus seed, she’d tied a ring to it, to give to my daughter; my daughter returned it with a wild flower. Trading my heart, for yours, so equal.
I’d learned a lot from them both, learned that there’s not just male or female, that there are, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals too, and, if you classify even more, it would get, even more complicated, like the rainbow. And, the reason why this world is colorful is because there are, various shades of blue…the various races, sexualities of people.
not my picture…
This is NOT just a world of either male or female, but, this world supposes that everybody is heterosexual, making it harder, for those who aren’t heterosexuals painful.
Like for instance, the get-togethers in universities, a lot of the games they’d set up has sexual overtones, and, those games that were, set up for heterosexuals, did they even, consider how it’d make the homosexual individuals feel?
My daughter went to a dance held by her department once, the dress codes for ladies are dresses, skirts, and, the “hidden rules” of the dates must be a member of the opposite sex, causing those homosexuals who aren’t out of the closets yet to feel fear in going. She was an officer of her department, she’d needed to go, I’d still recalled how she’d looked at her own reflection in the mirror, as she’d turned around and asked me, teary eyed, “Why can’t I be me?”
My daughter also taught me, to NOT inquire if someone is dating someone else, don’t ask people when they’re getting married, and why they’re not getting married, these questions are of the most private for heterosexuals, even more so to homosexual, forcing them to come out of the closets, or to force them, to LIE. We’d taught our children to be honest and always tell the truths, but, what are the consequences that came to them, after they’d told us the truth about themselves?
My daughter is engaged, she’d posted the notice on FB, as parents, we felt a mixture of emotions, just like how as I’d learned, thirty years ago, when I had my ultrasound, and learned I was carrying a daughter, because as a woman, I knew, she would have to, cope with this world of gender inequality, but at the same time, I knew, that I need to, work harder, to use my performances, to erase the discriminations that the society has on women.
Thirty years passed by, and, the genders are now, equal, more or less, but, my daughter’s identity isn’t just being a woman. I felt awful, that she was going to be bullied, I’d told her, that her homosexuality is a private matter, that she shouldn’t come out of the closets. But, hiding meant, there’s something that she’s keeping secret.
After my daughter went to the U.S., she’d become more optimistic, her sexuality is no problem in her social circle in her group of friends or Boston, or where she works, in San Francisco. But, looking at Taiwan, the letters the Fujen Catholic University sent to the students and professors, seemed to have set time back a couple of hundred years, even the Pope once said, that the churches should “apologize” for offending homosexuals, and, the universities here, are actually, spreading the discriminations openly.
Being gay is not a sin, it’s not a mistake. There are, so many of those who’d made contributions to civilization who are gay, for instance, the father of artificial intelligence, Turing, how many lives he’d managed to save, by helping the Allies win over the Axis by two years, but, he was, bullied by the times’ ignorance, and castration, he’d, committed suicide. And that time, it can’t, EVER come back again.
My daughter is engaged, we’re so happy, to tell our families and friends, it’s, an alternative coming-out-of-the-closet for us too. My traditional father told, that so long as they’re happy, he would, force himself to accept it; two days later, he’d left a line on his granddaughter’s Facebook, “It’s best to have someone you love with you, I wish you a good marriage.”
My daughter is engaged, she’s not being “married out”, I’d not gotten a “half-son”, instead, I’d, gained, ANOTHER daughter!
So, we’d come so far in time, hadn’t we? Although same-sex marriages are now, unsanctioned by the laws everywhere, but, there are still, so many taboos on the subject, because we still believe that what’s normal is right, but sometimes, what’s normal is WRONG! And, this mother’s open view about her daughter getting married to the woman that she loves, is a first step toward equality for all, eventually.