This is a long blog but it's important...

Firstly, I just wish to point out that I am a straight lady and I'm not the oppressed one. But I am a very opinionated person and I wish to make a statement about my feelings on Gay Marriage. I would suggest grabbing popcorn, it's gonna be a long one.

Almost fifty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered possibly the most iconic speech of the 20^th Century. You may not know all of its content but you will certainly have heard the phrase, ‘I Have a Dream’. The ‘I Have a Dream’ speech was about ending the prejudice and suffering that had plagued African-Americans since the abolition of slavery. And it set in motion a great change, a positive change. Whilst, sadly, racism is still around us from a small-minded minority, the thought of black people not having equal rights in today’s world is unthinkable. No-one could get away with it. It is almost horrendous to think that just a short time ago, black people were treated as second-class citizens. However, whilst it is a shameful chapter in our history, thankfully, it’s mostly in the past.

Sadly though, I find myself asking the question: why haven’t we learned from the mistakes of our predecessors? Why must some community of our society always be made to feel second-class or unequal? And will we ever get to a stage in our history where everyone can live equally?

I wish I knew the answer to that question but the fact is: There is no answer. No-one should be made to feel unequal. And yet, we continue to let it happen.

Gay people have been around since approximately the dawn of time. First of all, I’m going to put some metaphorical science goggles on and get slightly biological. Men have, over the course of a million years, developed a prostate gland, which when stimulated can provide pleasure. However, the site of this gland is only reachable through ‘ahem’, the back passage. Now, we don’t need to have a PHD in medicine to know that women do not possess the right apparatus to reach this area and whilst I can’t be totally positive, I don’t think men back then were double jointed or flexible enough to reach it (The Cavemen Olympic Gymnastics Team didn’t have much success, I hear).

Without going into too much explicit detail, ‘cough’ ‘cavemen probably had sex’ ‘cough’. Whilst I’m not pointing out that men are biologically gay, I am saying that men engaged in sexual activities with other men during the process of evolution and as such, men have developed to reflect that. However, I won’t ponder too much on this, I’d have to try and persuade people who don’t believe in evolution and that, my friends, is a whole other can of worms.

In Ancient Rome, there were, surprise, surprise, Gay people. When the ruins of Pompeii were uncovered thousands of years after it had been covered in volcanic ash, mosaics and wall carvings were found depicting same-sex lovers. Art dated back to Ancient Greece depicts women sharing intimacy with each other. William Shakespeare was rumoured to have been bi-sexual, with his sonnet, number 126, said to have been written about his male lover. 

I could go on but the reason I point all of this out is that when people have the opinion that there are more homosexual people now than there were in the past (and view it as a negative thing) they are wrong. Whilst, yes, there are more openly gay people now, it is because it is deemed more acceptable. Back then, there were probably many people who were gay but out of fear of being disowned or worse, they pretended to the world that they were heterosexual. They married the opposite sex to continue the façade of being ‘normal’.

The point is, I don’t see why Scotland as a nation should have to hold a consultation of Gay marriage. It shouldn’t be an issue and to be honest, it’s no-one else’s business if two men or two women want to get married, it doesn’t affect you. I mean, I am a straight woman but I do not think that I should have any more right to be able to get married to the man I love than any of my gay or lesbian friends do.

I’m not religious in the slightest but I will always respect and support people’s right to have a faith and be religious. However, I do not think it is right to base a democratic country such as Scotland’s laws on a religious order. Whilst I have the utmost respect for Christianity, there is no solid evidence of the existence of a God. I’m not saying there isn’t one but presently, we cannot assume for definite that there is one. However, what you cannot dispute is that there are people in this world, men with women, women with women and men with men, who love each other and wish to start a life together. Heterosexual people get the opportunity to share their love with the world without prejudice whereas homosexuals do not and that, my friends, is the sign of inequality in our society and it needs to end.

To people who believe it is there business to protect the traditional family unit and prevent homosexuals from marrying, I ask them to take a look at ‘traditional marriage’. More and more traditional marriages end in divorce now than ever before. How is that a better family unit than two loving homosexual partners who might live together forever happily in marriage but currently do not get the chance? And to the people who say that they shouldn’t be able to adopt children, I ask them to put themselves in the shoes of countless children in care and see if they would rather stay in the system or be allowed a chance at a happy life with two loving parents, regardless of gender. The world is changing and family units are changing and we can either stay in the past with narrow-minded views or we can embrace change and let everyone become equal.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but unless it affects you, don’t prevent others from doing what they believe in. Personally, I don’t believe in religion, I think it restricts people (and that might be more a more strongly-held opinion because I am female) but I don’t go out and campaign for people to stop believing in their faith. Instead, I respect and support their right to practice their faith because it doesn’t concern me and people should be allowed to live their lives in a way that suits them without affecting anyone else. However, the same courtesy is not being provided to homosexuals and that is fundamentally wrong.

If you have a problem with gay marriage then I implore you to step back and look at the situation. Do two men or two women marrying each other negatively affect your life? And secondly, if you were in their shoes and marriage between heterosexuals was illegal, how would you feel? How would you feel not being able to marry the person you love?

If you can answer both of those questions sensibly then I ask you to either support gay marriage or to not stand in its way.

I hope that in the future, when my children are my age, they can look back on this chapter in history and ask me ‘Why were gay people prejudiced in the first place?’ and realise how ridiculous we were in preventing it for such a long time. Whether my children are heterosexual, homosexual or even convert to a religious order, I don’t care because all I want is for people to be happy and to pursue the life that they want to live and most importantly, have an equal standing in society.

Equal rights, equal love.

For those interested in supporting Gay Marriage, please sign or provide feedback to the Scottish Government's consultation on Gay Marriage through here:

equalmarriage.org.uk

An End, Once and For All...

Right Now: 'Rannoch' - Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack

I think this blog should come attached with some kind of warning. A warning that to those who do not know me all that well, you should probably know a few things about me. Ladies and Gentlemen, imagine this is a television series and we are at the epic finale episode, where we find out the character we all know (and you know, maybe even, love?) is not who she seems. It can be a heartbreaking and traumatising thing for an avid viewer (or reader) but don't worry, these revelations shouldn't emotionally crush anyone.

As most people on my Facebook will know (mainly because everyone can see my Spotify and the umpteen videos I have uploaded to my wall), I am a gamer. I love gaming. I would genuinely quite happily sit in a room for a week with a console and fully complete a game, losing myself in its story, its characters, its world. The first proper game I ever played came with the first console I ever had. Sadly, I wasn't cool enough to be with the retro kids, I never had a PS1 or a Sega megadrive. Please, don't cry, the very notion itself upsets me greatly, as I feel like I have missed out a large chunk of what is called childhood. The closest I ever got to vintage gaming was a Gameboy Advance when I was nine. (Yes, I didn't even have a Gameboy Color). So I missed out on Pokemon Red too and more importantly, the epicness of locking Lara Croft's butler in the freezer (The more I talk about this, the more I feel the need to admit myself into some institution due to the psychological effects of having barely any childhood). I guess talking about this is a kind of therapy and there is such a thing as emulators which will help me recapture some of the magic.


But I digress, back to my oh-so-interesting life story. The first console I ever got was the original Xbox, which I still have and touch wood as to not jinx the thing, still works. It is a glorious thing, a console that I still play today. When I first got it,it came with two games. The first was Project Gotham Racing 2 (which I contend to this day and to my dying breath, is still the best in the entire series because nothing beats driving around Sydney listening to music burned from a CD to the Xbox hard drive) and Halo: Combat Evolved. I wish I could describe how much the latter game means to me. It's simply beautiful. The plot is utterly fantastic, the combat, easy to master and the characters? There are not many video game characters as badass as Master Chief. Honestly, I could tell you every level in the order it comes in, I have played it that many times. Halo 2 was even better and my absolute favourite of the series, mainly for the part when you drive the tank over the bridge, just such an epic level of shooting and graphics.


I have played many games but my latest gaming obsession has been the Mass Effect games. I have played another game the studio who made Mass Effect, Bioware, developed and that was Dragon Age: Origins prior to Mass Effect. It wasn't the combat, or the graphics that made me love this game, it was the story, the characters, the freedom of choice. Never have I played a game that could go anyway you chose, it was simply fantastic. The best part is that you can play it again and it won't be the same game. Value for money? I think so. Bioware have definitely targeted a fantastic gaming market and I wouldn't hesitate to buy a similar game if it was in the same vein as these other two.


However, as much as I loved Dragon Age Origins (In particular, a character named Alistair who was a freakin' babe), Mass Effect is superior on so many levels. It is literally the best game I've ever played. In fact, if someone had told me to create my perfect game, without any constraints, I think Mass Effect would be it. I don't play these games to progress or get achievements. I play them for the story, to talk to the characters and even (which is a big part of these games, believe it or not), romance a character. In the Mass Effect universe, I chose to romance a character named Garrus (insert romantic sigh here). Now, most people wouldn't think that was a big deal until you realise he looks like this.

Garrus Vakarian: C-Sec Officer and hopeless romantic extrordinaire.

Yep. Garrus is a big, motherfucking alien. A turian to be exact. And yet, it doesn't matter what he looks like, I still chose to romance him. Bioware made him witty, sarcastic and funny, traits I admire. Which has got me thinking. Sometimes, these games have a purpose of mirroring what our own world is like and perhaps, teaching us a lesson. The game's background is fraught with racial tensions and prejudices, quite similar to our own world. Yet in this world, they all allied together and got rid of the thing that was threatening their entire extistence. I haven't got much thoughts on racial tensions in this world but on a smaller level, I guess what I am trying to say is that, with Garrus, I fell in love with a personality, a voice. His looks did not matter to me. Which makes me think that maybe the perception that most people are shallow when it comes to looks are not true after all and personality counts more than looks. It's a bit philosophical, I know and to be honest, it is very hard to comprehend unless you have actually played the game (or you have a decent sleeping pattern).


When I finished Mass Effect 3, all I can describe as a hole was left. That is a sad and pathetic thing to admit but it's true. I will get over it very quickly but a game that is so immersive and dense? It will be missed. Although, I guess there is always the chance to restart from scratch, which I think I will do. I have a feeling that some of the people who read this blog will want to commit me to the institution I described earlier, more for a loss of reality and in general, being a freakin' weirdo but really, there is no need. I just love gaming. I love the imagination. Maybe a little too much, I don't know but I'm happy and happiness is what we all strive for, right? For those who are interested, I would highly recommend playing these games, you will not regret it. And now I leave you with a scene that nearly brought a tear to my eye. I say nearly because I didn't cross the line of utter despair (thankfully).