Same Sex Marriage In North Carolina: Traditional Southern Stereotypes Finally Change Essays Examples

In the South, traditions and stereotypes are respected and cherished, whether church on Sunday or saying sir and ma’am. One of the most closely held traditions in the southern conscience is the belief that only a man and a woman should be wed in the stereotypical way: by a preacher, at church, before God and your whole town. But after a federal judge struck down the state’s 2012 gay marriage ban on October 10, old southern stereotypes and traditions are finally getting a much-needed facelift, forcing all North Carolinians to reconsider personal beliefs. Fortunately, this state is finally joining many others in the country to pave the way to the indisputable truth that no resident should determine who another resident should love and marry, because the time for acceptance is here and a Supreme Court ruling is sure to follow.
Anyone in born and raised in the South is familiar with the advantages of a small town, where everyone knows each other by their first name, there always seems to be a barbecue or pig-picking, and families are big. However, the comfortable existence of a traditional southern town also comes with stereotypes and good old-fashioned prejudices. Here in Bible Belt country, everyone goes to church and follows the good book, including one of the oldest Christian tenets that marriage is only for one man and one woman. Although there is growing tolerance for the florist and his “partner”, many rural southerners still believe that homosexuality is a sin. As times change, some things have been accepted that would never have been imagined in the past, such as a gay pride march down Main Street. Yet, marriage is where many southerners continually draw their moral line in the sand. Despite the slow trickle of accepted activities and behaviors, many southerners refuse to budge on the idea that only a man and a woman should be joined in holy matrimony.
For a long time, those who were homosexual fled the small towns of the South, leaving behind family and friends, drawn to larger metropolis areas where people were more accepting. Many of those who left were run out of town with physical threats and violence perpetrated by good ol’ boys, infuriated by the ways of “the gays”. Some of these men and women never returned, resigned to the fact that southern ways were slow to change, if at all. However, some of those men and women returned, especially within the last decade. As the country’s tolerance for same sex couples and even same sex marriages grew, it seemed there was finally hope that the stalwart South might finally be grudgingly changing its ways. A few more same sex couples began trickling back into sleepy southern towns, even places that had run them out of town for being “light in the loafers”. Then, at the corner store, those two fellas with that Asian baby were suddenly seen as good neighbors who worked hard and did right by people.
Then, a few years ago, a whirlwind of activity on the same sex marriage front erupted on the West coast when a few same sex couples won a very important federal lawsuit. As California passed laws allowing same sex marriage, other states followed in quick succession, sometimes in spite of staunch opponents from ultra-conservative groups. Then the federal courts of several states struck down voter-approved bans on gay marriage, or refused to hear cases in support of bans altogether. Suddenly, it was almost impossible to count the number of states that either allowed same sex marriage or turned a blind eye to previous bans, issuing licenses in county offices all across the country. Finally, even the most conservative pundits were nearly speechless, confused by the inexplicable frenzy of activity pushing the same sex marriage movement further to the east, until it finally came to rest in the sleepy South.
Now, in 2014, the southern states that have been so entrenched in right-wing conservative Christian ideology find their citizens shaking their fists and waving signs with an entirely new message. Instead of the decades-long chants demanding that gay people leave, nearly two-thirds of the citizens are demanding that their government allow same sex couples to marry, to adopt, and to have the same rights and privileges as any other married couple has in this country. Unexpectedly, in North Carolina and several other southern states, the good ol’ boys are standing right next to same sex couples holding hands. Although change has been slow to come, the time to let go of rock-hard southern traditions and stereotypes is today.
Not every southern citizen and resident are in agreement about same sex marriage, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, several friendships and even a few families have been torn down the proverbial middle by ongoing discord over this age-old battle. Many churches and the preachers who stand at their shining pulpits every Sunday condemn same sex couples, yelling and cursing their lifestyles to the flaming depths of the same place as always. Fortunately, those in the pews nodding their heads at such archaic babble aren’t as many as they used to be, and the few that are there are much older because the age of intolerance is roughly mid-60’s and upward. Those who stubbornly refuse to ride the wave of change into a future of same sex marriage acceptance will be left behind, relegated to the pile of “oh, that old thing will never change, don’t mind him”.
With a little more time, a little more acceptance, and lot more seeing people for who they are inside, there’s a chance for change. If North Carolina and other southern states can make the brave leap forward to seeing same sex couples just as themselves instead of judging people for whom or how they love, same sex marriage in North Carolina – and the South as a whole – might finally be here to stay.