Dear friend,
On May 9th 2012, US President Obama made a ground-breaking statement: “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” One of the very best boxers who ever stepped into the ring, Floyd Mayweather Jr. subscribed to this enlightened idea: “I stand behind President Obama & support gay marriage. I’m an American citizen & I believe people should live their lives the way they want.”
Growing up and DJing on the London nightclub circuit during the mid 1990s to mid 2000s, I learned a great deal about different cultures: whether you were male or female, black or white, Latino or Asian, gay, straight or bisexual, people came together in the spirit of unity, thanks to the universal sound of underground House music. House music was created and founded by the gay community in New York (Larry Levan) and Chicago (Frankie Knuckles) in the early 1980s. Thanks to them, hundreds of millions of people continue to enjoy this universal sound we call House. Even the Hip-Hop pop stars have jumped on this sound over the last few years which is ironic, considering the pathological anti-gay lyrics in rap music.
As I started to gradually break into the London DJ circuit in 2001, rubbing shoulders with all walks of life, I realized many creative people in club-land where not heterosexual and working in an industry which had a strong gay influence, I had to learn to put aside any limited ideas that society and religions had tried to programme me to believe.
All of these genuine experiences helped me to shape my views on equality long before I left the music industry. I find it incredible that there are intelligent people who have a positive moral compass who feel that same sex marriage is a “sin.” Sin, comes from the Greek word “hamarto”, which simply means to “miss the mark.” I have no problem with two human beings wanting to be married for spiritual or security purposes. All human beings have a right to live how they choose to live, as long as they are not violating the rights of others.
Some “religious” people (by no means all) will declare that same-sex marriage is breaking the law of God and should not be allowed however, if the law of God said that women could not vote or have the same rights as men, would we still obey this? Emmeline Pankhurst certainly wouldn’t have! If the law of God said mixed marriages were sinful, would Obama’s parents have tolerated this? If the law of God said that black or mixed race people had no basic human rights, would Martin Luther King Jr., or Muhammad Ali have accepted this? The essence of most religious texts is about love and compassion, but sadly, fundamentalist zealots misuse and misquote the Bible and other ancient texts. Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus condemn anyone. He does, in fact, say “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and “judge not less ye be judged.”
Times have changed and human consciousness has risen to a higher level of frequency (we are becoming more accepting of one another, less violent and more open-minded). The days of believing in a Zeus in the skies who plays dice with human life is no longer necessary for human consciousness to evolve. If some people want to believe that they will burn in hell for eternity for standing up for justice, I can only have compassion for them. That’s a big burden of fear to walk around with.
In forty years time, humanity will look back in disbelief that we allowed discrimination to injure the rights of a particular group of human beings. However, the fact that the world is debating this subject is a great step in the right direction.
Christopher “Divinity” Dines is an author & former House DJ who helps people to live happier and healthier lives through personal development and spirituality. Follow “Divinity” at: https://twitter.com/#!/divinitydines
