"But the greatest of these is love."

Holly: I posted this on my Facebook this morning.

I may or may not get some flack for this, but this is truly what I believe:

I was watching the news last night, and it showed a lot of couples (both same-sex and not) walking out of churches, courthouses, etc, holding hands and looking so genuinely happy.  When I see things like that, I don't see gender...I see two people who are in love and who can't wait to spend the rest of their lives together.  I know what the Bible says, but LOVE is the greatest command of all.  Even if we don't agree with it, we owe it to EVERY person our love, our acceptance, and our tolerance.  Jesus hung out with people from all walks of life.  He never judged, never criticized...he saw them for who they were: a child of God.

Love over hate.
Tolerance over intolerance.

Now, I know a lot of those out there who do not agree with this.  And that's ok.  I have my beliefs and I will respect them, and I only ask that you please do the same for me.  But I think that we are in no place to judge one another's actions, lifestyle choices, relationships, etc.  We ought to be supportive of our friends and neighbors, even if we don't agree with the choices they make.

As for me, I am straight, and therefore can't really offer any solid opinions on this issue.  But I will say this: I have several gay friends and I love them all so dearly.  I see them through the eyes of God, as I do ALL people, and that propels my dire love for people.  I urge all of you to do the same.

Kelly: In the world I'm in, we are always told to treat all individuals equally. I could walk into the door of my future work place and treat anyone who comes in; a prisoner, a homeless person, someone who's HIV positive, whatever. If you were in my shoes would you not treat the person with as much respect and compassion as they need, even if they don't "deserve" it? Just because I may not agree with a patient's lifestyle does not mean their care by me will be any different, as it shouldn't be.

Maybe you wouldn't. But I would. And that's not even because I "have" to; it's by my free choice that I do so. So why should these individuals be treated any differently? It makes me so sad that in this country we live in, many individuals are denied seemingly basic rights, in my opinion. I try to put myself in their shoes; how would I feel if I could not marry the person I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with? How would you feel? I'm guessing not a lot of people think about that. Like sis said, I don't even see the fact that they're gay. I don't. I see two people who love each other. What also makes me sad is that I have Christian friends who are gay and who genuinely struggle with this. I've been asked "Kelly, because I'm gay does that mean I'm going to hell?" How do you even answer that? I thought that our country was supposed to build people up instead of tear them down. I think with the troubles going on in this country and the world it's the absolute LEAST we can do.