Saturday we got the news. Ireland became the first country to in the world – that’s in the world – to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. When I read the headlines, I smiled and thought “Wow, you did it.” I’m not sure the “you” I meant was the country as a whole or my friends who tirelessly campaigned for equal marital rights for their countrymen and women.

I know many people do not approve or support same-sex marriage rights, mostly for religious reasons. I don’t agree with that but I understand the thought process. I just feel with so much hate in the world, why are we critical of people who love and care for each other? I’m willing to take my chances at the pearly gates, should I get that far.  If I get turned away because I embraced my friends and family who had loving relationships, maybe with someone of the same sex, I will be thankful that this was the worst thing God could say about me.

As a Catholic, I’m interested in seeing how the church responses to Ireland’s vote. I’m sure the church wasn’t thrilled with the outcome.  As many others my age, I grew up in the church at a time where Catholics were not really expected or encouraged to read the bible. We went to church and were told what it all meant. This, combined with some well meaning, but ineffective religious ed teachers, has left me with a less than stellar knowledge of the bible. So when I volunteered to teach Religious Ed, I took a class on the bible.

The class was pretty interesting and I was holding my own until we came upon the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Turns out those are cities, not a gay couple as I always thought. I don’t know exactly why I thought they were a couple but I knew they were very bad. VERY BAD. And given how the church feels about gays, I just assumed they were a couple. When I expressed my surprise we were discussing cities, not people, I could see the color drain from the teacher’s face. I’m sure he went home, had a stiff drink and said a few dozen Hail Mary’s for me. I’m hoping the next generation or two would never consider that story to be about people – not just from knowledge but from a place where the church wouldn’t have such a harsh stand on same-sex relationships.

I’ve always been a Janis Ian fan (again, I’m a child of the 70’s, what can I say?) and I’ve always loved this song off her album Billie’s Bones, “What I Lay Down”. The last verse is my favorite:

I dreamed my life was over
and they laid me in my grave
I was frightened of forever
and the price I’d have to pay
And I thought that God would hate me
’cause I’d lived my life in sin,
but I felt the truth embrace me
as heaven let me in

We are all sinners. Some are bigger sins than others but I can’t believe loving and caring for another human will be the worst when the time comes to show what we’ve done on earth.