Hurry, hide the women and children! Close the bomb shelter door! HERE COME THE HOMOS! No, this is not a joke this is exactly what educated people have been saying for ages and now it has come to life!

The American Families Association has declared Oct. 12 through the 18 "Marriage Protection Week" and President Bush is backing it.

He is getting ready to launch a constitutional amendment to permanently deny civil marriage to same-sex couples and this week is part of the hype. WHAT?!

I literally screamed, "WHAT!?" when I read this plan for a war on same-sex civil marriage. Since when is the Constitution meant to deny rights? It is the most sacred document in the history of our nation and now it is going to be used against its own people?

I still can’t believe this! I am so ashamed to say that this is happening in the United States. Isn’t our country based on freedom? I guess not.

The purpose behind this "Marriage Protection Week" is to fight the attack on marriage that homosexuals are (supposedly) starting.

They claim that, "There are those who want to redefine marriage to include two men, or two women, or a group of any size or mix of sexes: One man and four women, one woman and two men, etc" according to the American Family Association (AFA). How dare they!

Were we just compared to polygamists? This is about two people who genuinely love each other. Polygamy is about procreation and using and slavery, not about true love and wanting recognition of love.

This isn’t about how many combinations we can try. They are obviously missing the point.

Securing civil marriage for homosexuals is just a couple who wants all the rights that come with marriage between heterosexual couples. Daily, homosexual couples are denied tax breaks, health benefits, survivor’s benefits, the right to enter a hospital room, make medical decisions for their partner, collecting unemployment, getting residency, child custody, social security, etc. The list goes on and on.

The gay community is not looking to make a mockery of marriage or change marriage; we are looking to get married just like heterosexuals can. We have the right to these privileges and yet we are denied them because of who we love?

The groups who are heading the week of protection of marriage are saying that we are trying to put ourselves on the same ground as heterosexual couples and why not? Do we not have an equal amount of love? People get married in Vegas by Elvis everyday and they are equal in marriage under the eyes of the law.

There are some heterosexual couples who abuse each other, fight constantly, or whose marriages are based on sex and not love. They’re right, I don’t want my marriage to be the equivalent of that, I want it to be better.

But the issue isn’t moral equivalence; it is legal equivalence. Everyone in the United States is supposed to be equal under the eyes of the law, then why don’t we get these equal rights? We are not forcing anyone to say "your marriage is better than mine," we are looking for rights.

There was a time, in the United States, where the definition of marriage was limited to people within the same race, then people within the same religion, at one point it was about "owning your woman."

The definition of marriage has changed over the years as people have realized that it is unconstitutional to limit marriage to what some people are comfortable with. It was flat-out discrimination then and it is flat-out discrimination now.

They are saying we threaten the institute of marriage, like we are weakening it. Obviously, we respect marriage and cherish it; why else would we want it so badly?

The divorce rate in this country is so ridiculous; we could only make the institute of marriage stronger. We think marriage is so sacred because we don’t have the right to just have it. I think the AFA has bigger fish to fry. Why don’t they focus on abusive relationships or Elvis blessed unions? Why is our community considered the bad guy? We want to share what you have! We don’t want to destroy it!

This really gets me the AFA claims that "their (the homosexuals) efforts are intended to force, by law, 97 percent of Americans to bow down to the desires of the approximately 3 percent who are homosexuals." That isn’t even statistically correct.

Approximately 10 percent of the population is proven to be homosexual and the number is quite possibly higher. And so what? Even if it was that little of the population does that mean they are denied rights? 13 percent of the world is left-handed, 12.3 percent of the U.S. population is African-American. If AFA is going on majority only 20 percent of Americans favor a constitutional ban on civil marriages for same-sex couples and even of those who oppose civil marriage equality for gays and lesbians, 60 percent still say it’s not worth amending the Constitution (Human Rights Campaign).

What is Bush backing this whole idea with? His personal prejudices? It does not make any sense.

The point is, everyone, even the president, is entitled to their personal opinion, their comfort level, their prejudices but it can’t play into the law and our freedom as people, as Americans. I don’t want to be a second-class citizen anymore.