It's been almost six months since I came out to the public. It's been an interesting journey, for sure. For a moment I thought our nation would surely become more "open-minded" and realize the need to focus on issues that everyday Americans are facing head-on, such as unemployment being over 8 percent for over 30 months now, a crushing national debt that our children will inherit, and a major shortage of jobs for college graduates. Instead, far-right-wing members of the Republican Party continue to toy with social issues, only to be outdone by far-left-wing members of the Democratic Party who toy with issues like universal birth control and other Rush-Limbaugh-related incidents. When will Republicans learn to not give in to the politics that plague our country? These issues do not bring people together; they divide people into two extremes: the left-wing form of extremism or the right-wing form of extremism, neither of which is the right place to line up.
I see Midwestern candidates for U.S. Senate, particularly the candidate in whose race I was so invested for several months, going to the extreme right, as if to see who can be more anti-gay than the other. Why do these three politicians, who claim to be for limited government and more freedom, continue this sideshow of who can be more conservative or anti-gay than the other? What does this really accomplish? Absolutely nothing, if you ask me. This alienates people who want to remain focused and committed on fixing the economy, turning around the unemployment numbers, and compromising on the bigger issues of the day.
When President Barack Obama told the nation last week that he supports same-sex marriage, I was not shocked. I wanted to believe that his announcement was merely a communication error, but it wasn't. He actually said that he supports same-sex marriage. This is something I wanted my party, the Republican Party, to be the first to make progress on. After all, we are the party of Lincoln, the party of limited government, the party of more freedom and less regulation. When will the Republican Party get back to basics and realize that our best days are ahead of us and not behind us? When will legislators begin to take the Constitution to work instead of their Bibles?
As much as I dislike this fact, I strongly believe that gay marriage will play an important role in this year's election process. Politicians from both sides of the aisle will use gay rights as a wedge issue, just like politicians from both sides use senior citizens as a wedge issue. It's not fair, and it should not be tolerated. I hope that people from both sides of the aisle will not give in to this style of politics. It is divisive, it's bullying, and it's wrong.
While I do believe that President Obama's announcement was ill-timed, it is still a very important step in the right direction, and on the right side of history.