The love we have, the love we need

A lesbian couple—Jane Currie and her partner, Anji Dimitriou—were attacked outside a school in Oshawa as they waited amongst other parents ten days ago.

"Which one of you two 'men' spoke to my kid? F------ dyke. Lesbians," (the assailant) said, spitting in Dimitriou's face. As she wiped her face, eyes closed, he punched her on the cheek and wound up again, slamming her backward into her truck. As Currie ran toward him, she remembers him shouting, "F------ dyke bitches," and punched her on the cheekbone so hard the skin burst apart, blood splattering.

So much hate. And why? What does Jane Currie and Anji Dimitriou's love take from anyone.

Many people that would never dream of inflicting such violence still think it's okay to stand in the way of gay marriage. Proposition 8. California. 52% of voters approved a state ballot to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

Keith Olbermann's impassioned speech on Proposition 8 and love sums up my feelings with the utmost eloquence:

Yes. This is what it comes down to. People standing against love. Olbermann's heartfelt words flashed me back to an article on Jamaican gay activist Gareth Henry (this past year's Pride Toronto international grand marshal) I read last summer.

The Toronto Star piece mentions that to avoid dealing with his homosexuality, Gareth immersed himself in church life while growing up in Kingston.

But one sermon about the evils of homosexuality left him wondering, "What about the love? I had never heard the pastor talk about the love we have, the love we need."

What about the love?

What about declaring to the world that you want to share your life with the person you love and being allowed to call that sharing what heterosexuals call it? What about feeling that your love is respected as being as precious and wonderful as anyone else's?

What about the love?
What about the love?
What about the love?