A few days ago I was introduced to an experience that until that point seemed impossible to me. Even though I am a teenager, I have a pretty stable relationship with my parents. I’ve never gotten in a significant argument with them. My parents and I were on our way to the movie theater. It was Sunday afternoon and the sky was slowly becoming darker. As we drove down the street, we went by a small demonstration against Prop 8. They were waving signs that read “No on Prop 8,” and other such messages.
My father looked at the demonstrators and grimaced in disgust. He shook his head in disagreement and made no comment. We began to discuss the current situation of gay marriage and I expressed my opposition to Prop 8. It was like my parents were stabbed in the chest. How could I, the daughter they had raised and educated, support the gay marriage movement? They were just dumbfounded. It really wasn’t a surprise that my parents were anti same sex marriages, I mean they are Catholic. But I was a surprised at their reaction.
They became really angry and confronted me with arguments that I was going against religion, against what God had dictated upon humanity. They repeated that those ways were wrong. I asked how. They said that the purpose of marriage was to procreate, and that same sex couples couldn’t, therefore they were not fully united in the eyes of God. I asked about infertile couples, their reply: it’s different. I told them that to me, the purpose and reason of marriage is love. I said that no one has the right, not even God, to tell us who we should love. We continued to argue for some time. It got pretty intense.
They told me that I “was not raised like this.” We arrived at the movies and I left. The last statement still echoes in my mind. I believe I was raised with an education so that I can be informed when making decisions such as this. I guess my parents didn’t foresee the possibility of the education backfiring on them.
