Gay Marriage

Dear Mr. President,

My Name is Rowan and I am a junior at Parkway West High School. I have two eyes, two ears, a nose and mouth- just like everyone else. I am bisexual. That is to say, I prefer to fall in love with a person, not a gender. This, I suppose, is a big deal to a lot of people, but to me the word bisexual is just a label. It doesn't define me, it doesn't hold me back or set me apart- it's just a word.  So why should the fact I can fall in love with a girl, keep me from having a life like everyone else? Why should my sexual preference keep me from getting married? I'm not hurting anyone, so why should I be refused the same right that all heterosexual people in this country get?  It isn't right to try and tell someone who they should love, who they should want to spend their life with.

507,028 people and counting have joined the It Gets Better movement. That's 507,028 people who are open about their sexual preference, who support their friends or their family or even the people they don't know; people they have never met.  You yourself are one of them.  507,028 people, 507,028 citizens. If this isn't a national issue, than what is? I have the right to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness. So now, I'm perusing my happiness.

 Mr. President I'm pleading with you here, now, sign the Respect for Marriage Act.  If I have the right to free speech, the right to freedom of religion, the right to freedom of press and the right to petition the government, then give me the right to marry who I want. You have the ability to do that; you have the ability to help us. So help us. Legalize gay marriage, because in the end we're not, I'm not, so different from everybody else. I think my own thought, I have my own dreams my own hopes my own fears.  I'm not some monster out to destroy the sanctity of marriage; I'm out to support it. Marriage is about the love between to people, no matter their gender.

Sincerely,

Rowan,

Parkway West High School

St. Louis MO