Love is a many splendored thing. Say No to Prop 8. Say Yes to love. Below, a personal story of Gerry Tseng-Gill, a man who finds love a many splendored thing.
By Gerry Tseng-Gill
E-mail your comment to: tsenggill@yahoo.com
When my parents got married in 1956, it was an occasion for love, in the face of the consequences. As an interracial couple, my parents went into their relationship with caution. After courting for four years, they took a year apart to make sure they were making the right decision. Following their hearts, they got married in a small wedding with their friends and only half of their family. My mother’s Caucasian family was adamantly against their relationship. Rather than risking her family’s intervention, they got married without her family’s knowledge. After the wedding, she had her parent’s pastor inform them of the marriage. Shortly thereafter, she was disowned.
As late as 1967, it was still illegal for interracial marriages to take place in some US states. At that time, 70% of Americans remained opposed to interracial marriages. There were arguments like, “God created the continents to prevent races from intermarrying”. Scriptures (e.g., be ye not unequally yoked) were used to show the immorality of mixed marriages. Nevertheless, the US Supreme court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that laws prohibiting marriage between races were unconstitutional.
In many ways, my love life paralleled that of my mother. You see, I’m gay. When I came out it was to tears, anguish and anger. I felt horrible because of who I was and who I loved.
If being gay were a choice, I certainly would not have chosen that path. I can only wonder what my mother would have thought. But she passed away when I was nine.
Initially, after they were married, my parents were very happy. However, as time passed, the anguish that she caused her family ate away at her soul. She became depressed, and died because of complications with her anti-depressants.
Racism not only ruined my family, but also devastated my birth parents. By the time I was born, my Japanese American birthfather had enlisted in the army and my Caucasian birthmother was forced to place me up for adoption. There was no chance for their love to mature. Fortunately for me, there was a Eurasian family wanting a Eurasian child. Otherwise, who knows what my fate would have been.
When it came time for my partner and me to start our family, we chose to adopt. This seemed only natural as we were both adopted. We have been with our daughter since she was two-hours old. She is now ten. For her our getting legally married is important. She has yearned for this since she was five. For her, marriage provides legitimacy of our relationship and our family.
Parallel to the US Supreme Court in 1967, the California Supreme Court ruled that the State’s Constitution provides equal protection for gays to marry, in spite of a previous referendum defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. Vote NO on Proposition 8, for the sake of my family, my daughter, and others like us. By legitimizing gay marriage, we declare that our children are free to marry the person that they love.
Do not let the proponents of Proposition 8 sway you with their patronizing opinions. They say, “think about the children”. That was one of the same arguments used against interracial marriage. Amazingly, forty years later, we have a Presidential candidate who is the result of a mixed marriage.
Proponents use scripture to condemn homosexual acts, while choosing to reinterpret other aspects of the Moral Code in the Old Testament (e.g., forbidding remarriage, execution to adulterers, execution to couples having sex during a woman’s period). There are far more Old and New Testament commandments that limit women’s roles in the home, church and society, than there are scriptures that they interpret as condemning the homosexual (see www.soulforce.com). The United States is not governed by the Bible, our founders specifically created a separation between church and State. The Constitution was established as the standard of law, which provides equality for all Americans.
As Japanese Americans, whose parents were unfairly interned, while German Americans kept their freedom and property; as Asian Americans whose grand parents fell in love with Caucasians and had to drive to Washington State to get married; as Asian Americans whose great grandparents were denied the right to own land, and constantly being confronted with new laws designed to take away their business opportunities; I encourage you to look beyond any personal prejudice and consider what is right and fair under the law. Now is the time to make a stand for equality for all. Vote NO on Proposition 8.
Gerry Tseng-Gill lives in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, with his life partner, Joe Gill, and their lovely 10-year-old daughter, Elaine, and a dog named Jojo.
Below, thought you might get a kick out of this t-shirt designed by Gerry Tseng-Gill. See: http://www.cafepress.com/PentaPalin.
By Gerry Tseng-Gill
E-mail your comment to: tsenggill@yahoo.com
When my parents got married in 1956, it was an occasion for love, in the face of the consequences. As an interracial couple, my parents went into their relationship with caution. After courting for four years, they took a year apart to make sure they were making the right decision. Following their hearts, they got married in a small wedding with their friends and only half of their family. My mother’s Caucasian family was adamantly against their relationship. Rather than risking her family’s intervention, they got married without her family’s knowledge. After the wedding, she had her parent’s pastor inform them of the marriage. Shortly thereafter, she was disowned.
As late as 1967, it was still illegal for interracial marriages to take place in some US states. At that time, 70% of Americans remained opposed to interracial marriages. There were arguments like, “God created the continents to prevent races from intermarrying”. Scriptures (e.g., be ye not unequally yoked) were used to show the immorality of mixed marriages. Nevertheless, the US Supreme court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that laws prohibiting marriage between races were unconstitutional.
In many ways, my love life paralleled that of my mother. You see, I’m gay. When I came out it was to tears, anguish and anger. I felt horrible because of who I was and who I loved.
If being gay were a choice, I certainly would not have chosen that path. I can only wonder what my mother would have thought. But she passed away when I was nine.
Initially, after they were married, my parents were very happy. However, as time passed, the anguish that she caused her family ate away at her soul. She became depressed, and died because of complications with her anti-depressants.
Racism not only ruined my family, but also devastated my birth parents. By the time I was born, my Japanese American birthfather had enlisted in the army and my Caucasian birthmother was forced to place me up for adoption. There was no chance for their love to mature. Fortunately for me, there was a Eurasian family wanting a Eurasian child. Otherwise, who knows what my fate would have been.
When it came time for my partner and me to start our family, we chose to adopt. This seemed only natural as we were both adopted. We have been with our daughter since she was two-hours old. She is now ten. For her our getting legally married is important. She has yearned for this since she was five. For her, marriage provides legitimacy of our relationship and our family.
Parallel to the US Supreme Court in 1967, the California Supreme Court ruled that the State’s Constitution provides equal protection for gays to marry, in spite of a previous referendum defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. Vote NO on Proposition 8, for the sake of my family, my daughter, and others like us. By legitimizing gay marriage, we declare that our children are free to marry the person that they love.
Do not let the proponents of Proposition 8 sway you with their patronizing opinions. They say, “think about the children”. That was one of the same arguments used against interracial marriage. Amazingly, forty years later, we have a Presidential candidate who is the result of a mixed marriage.
Proponents use scripture to condemn homosexual acts, while choosing to reinterpret other aspects of the Moral Code in the Old Testament (e.g., forbidding remarriage, execution to adulterers, execution to couples having sex during a woman’s period). There are far more Old and New Testament commandments that limit women’s roles in the home, church and society, than there are scriptures that they interpret as condemning the homosexual (see www.soulforce.com). The United States is not governed by the Bible, our founders specifically created a separation between church and State. The Constitution was established as the standard of law, which provides equality for all Americans.
As Japanese Americans, whose parents were unfairly interned, while German Americans kept their freedom and property; as Asian Americans whose grand parents fell in love with Caucasians and had to drive to Washington State to get married; as Asian Americans whose great grandparents were denied the right to own land, and constantly being confronted with new laws designed to take away their business opportunities; I encourage you to look beyond any personal prejudice and consider what is right and fair under the law. Now is the time to make a stand for equality for all. Vote NO on Proposition 8.
Gerry Tseng-Gill lives in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, with his life partner, Joe Gill, and their lovely 10-year-old daughter, Elaine, and a dog named Jojo.
Below, thought you might get a kick out of this t-shirt designed by Gerry Tseng-Gill. See: http://www.cafepress.com/PentaPalin.
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