{"id":3094,"date":"2012-05-09T23:02:08","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T03:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=3094"},"modified":"2012-05-09T23:02:08","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T03:02:08","slug":"taking-a-stand-for-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2012\/05\/taking-a-stand-for-love.html","title":{"rendered":"Taking A Stand For Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tonight I came home to some amazing and ground breaking news, \u00a0that President Obama spoke out in support of same sex marriage. As a minister who marries committed heterosexual and homosexual couples, I couldn’t have been more delighted.\u00a0 There may be some folks who are reading this entry who disagree and to that I say “To each his or her own.”; not wanting to debate. That did occur on my facebook page this evening as someone had really strong feelings in opposition.<\/p>\n

My take on it has always been that love is love is love; and a relationship is about the ‘person and not the plumbing.’ From a spiritual perspective, it is hard to believe that a loving God would create people who love those of their own gender and desire relationship, only to be condemned and vilified for it.<\/p>\n

One of the classes I teach is called The Taboo Subjects: Sex, Religion and Death and in an exercise I ask the participants to imagine\u00a0a world in which things were the opposite of what people who have ‘heterosexual privelege’ experience. What if everything they saw and heard from the media was all about same sex couples?\u00a0 How about if only same sex couples were permitted to make health care decisions for their partner or heterosexual couples were banned from being covered under their spouse’s insurance plan?\u00a0Imagine if only Gay\u00a0people could adopt children and straight people were banned from becoming parents? \u00a0What would it be like to have to keep your lover undercover or risk being stared at if you were seen holding hands on the street?\u00a0 How about if you were fearful of being outed as ‘one of those’ people?\u00a0 Think about what it would be like to be in fear for your safety if people with hate in their hearts harmed or killed you or someone close to you because they or you chose to be in relationship with someone of the opposite sex?\u00a0 It makes for lively discussion with alot of\u00a0 “Hmmm… I never thought about it that way.”<\/p>\n

May all hearts and minds be opened by love~<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/wromJL364I4<\/a>\u00a0 ” I Do ” was Inspired by the many gay couples being married at San Francisco’s City Hall in 2004, Maryann and Ron Sfarzo composed and produced “I DO” the first ceremonial wedding song to celebrate same sex marriage.<\/p>\n

At Walt Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding, “I DO” has been added as one of their song selections offered to gay couples. Since 2004 “I DO” has traveled across the US into Canada and the UK.<\/p>\n

A special Thank You to the couples that have chosen “I DO” for their wedding.
\n“I DO” can be found on CD Baby or by going to http:\/\/ido.sfarzoproductions.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Tonight I came home to some amazing and ground breaking news, \u00a0that President Obama spoke out in support of same sex marriage. As a minister who marries committed heterosexual and homosexual couples, I couldn’t have been more delighted.\u00a0 There may be some folks who are reading this entry who disagree and to that I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,2,13,70,19,1246,94,4,15,30,17,48,10],"tags":[1752,1751,1750,1753],"class_list":["post-3094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-affirmations","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-community","category-empowerment","category-faith","category-family","category-inspiration","category-living-their-bliss","category-love","category-relationships","category-sexuality","category-spirituality","tag-maryann-and-ron-sfarzo","tag-president-obama","tag-same-sex-marriage","tag-walt-disney"],"yoast_head":"\nTaking A Stand For Love - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2012\/05\/taking-a-stand-for-love.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taking A Stand For Love - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Tonight I came home to some amazing and ground breaking news, \u00a0that President Obama spoke out in support of same sex marriage. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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