Love is love, now I'm sure everyone has heard that sentence at least one time in their life. Usually associated to gay rights activists, this cliche sentence still holds truth though. Perhaps it could be altered a bit, such as ,"All humans contain an invisible force called love within them, it just takes the right person to find it," or even,"Two hearts connected and intertwined together to provide trust. Memories and remaining images to mark a past. Heart-felt words said to fuel emotions. All of this together creates a thing called love." Now these examples do not hold a specific relationship type do they? There is no forced genders within those lines for they are for people to relate their experiences to. Yet society today continues to put a tag on what is "acceptable" in general public. A male and a female together, with dreams of getting married, having a family, and living happily ever after. Well, they aren't the only ones who want the same exact thing.

Perhaps it's a hard fact for some people to grasp a hold of, but people within the gay community hold the same dreams as the heterosexual community. Sure, there are some difficulties involved in the process, but it could all be done as well. Laws against gay marriage destroy the hopes for gay partners to marry the love of their life. The United States of America is suppose to be based off of equality, but where is the equality when there are laws against a happy ending for gay couples? The definition of equality is basically that all people are supposed to be treated equally, correct? Well there are quite a few errors in the laws that rule this country then since they sure don't support that definition. Taking happiness away from a person is completely wrong and cannot be excused for any reason what-so-ever. Gay partners should be allowed to get married and live in any state they want to, where the marriage license will remain valid. Instead, gay couples are being treated as under-privileged citizens and are denied certain rights just because of their sexual orientation. It's not just laws that discriminate though, it's people as well.

In 1998, a twenty-one year old man named Matthew Shepard was tortured and killed for being homosexual. He was severely beaten and left to die, this isn't discrimination, it's just down-right inhumane. A senseless death and a waste of a valued life just because of two guys' opinions on homosexuals. Now all gay discrimination stories aren't as extreme as the Matthew Shepard case, but even the little stories still have an effect to the person being discriminated. Rude remarks, unnecessary glares, little things like that can hurt a person's feelings. It's not like homosexuals can help who they are, it's just a part of them. For a person to think they have a valid-reason to make fun of homosexuals, they stand wrong. If the table was flipped on them and they were the ones being ridiculed, their response would be the same as homosexuals. Angered, hurt, and wondering why a person would do such a thing. Discrimination is a down-fall of society, locking up all kinds of opportunities in a vault where no one will find them. If people could just be more considerate then this article wouldn't be here right now. Yet discrimination has been a part of history since the beginning of mankind and therefore it's not going away any time soon. If only humans could work together towards treating everyone equally, only then would this country be a truly equal country. Homosexuals are no different then heterosexuals, they both share physical and mental aspects. Now if only society could realize this, then discrimination would slowly begin to fade into the shadows of history. Society needs to strive to become one that's more fair and respectful opposed to rude and inconsiderate. Opinions are always fine, a person just needs to remember there's a line between an opinion and committing an action, either with words or physically. That line needs to be drawn and until then, discrimination will continue to loom above us every single day.