What does Equality Mean to Me?

The dream of everyone who is discriminated against, the hopes of the socially oppressed and the nightmares of the opressors in places of power, the chance to be on equal footing with our fellow man, to be viewed as no less than those around you. Equality is a struggle that humanity has not yet overcome in its (relatively) short history, though leaps and bounds have been made throughout the millenia. The dream of many people is to have the right to choose their leaders (specifically in democratic scenarios), the right to join the person they love in a lawful joining (marriage or civil union or whatever) with all the benefits that come with it, the right to be able to be gainfully employed without fear of being rejected because of unchangeable variables like skin tone or sexual orientation.

People all over the world are struggling for a great many rights that many first-world nations take for granted. Slavery is a concern that was outlawed by most of the west by the 1900's, but remains a global plague that goes mostly unnoticed by the general population because it doesn't directly affect most of these people. Owning people in any sense is wrong, regardless of the reason that one uses to explain their perceived superiority over any other individual. The same is true of anyone who thinks a skin color causes one to be inferior/superior to any other, it should be plain that all people are people regardless of what pigments are dominant on their epidermis. There are racists the world over, and they deserve to be placed in the position that they wish upon those they are biased against, forced to see what their hatred and bigotry cause in their victims.

Religious persecution registers as another problem, though true genocides have become less and less common throughout the years. In the early days of our society's history, one tribe would believe in a group of one or more deities that were diferent from the next tribe over, and this would cause them to dislike each other. Truthfully, it wasn't the thing that would drive them into open conflict so much as the need to expand and obtain more resources from the same pool as the neighboring tribes, but it did play a factor in convincing tribe members to take these resources because the god(s) demanded it. This was a very simple way to manipulate a group into believing that their deity/ies had superiority over any rival pantheon, and zealous fervor drove these tribes to wipe many of the tribes from history altogether. This still plagues our species to this day, and there is no really viable solution aside from abandoning that whole part of our culture and replacing it with something contructive.

Atheists are victimized by nearly every religion ever, since always, becauze they do not have the guidance of some deity/ies showing them how to "play nice" with other people on the individual level on through to on a societal level. This is even more heinous than any faith-on-faith atrocities that have been recorded, because these religious groups all agree that they are superior because of they all at least have faith in some kind of greater entity that endows them with the ability to dispense righteous justice on the heathen non-believer. This type of inequality prevents people in some parts of the U.S. from running for elected office, and many other nations as well; that doesn't include the other nations that imprison or execute atheists or apostates, which is also a significant portion of the cradle of civilization's modern political powers.

Homosexuals want the right to legally join the person they love in many nations worldwide, and are starting to gain headway in several nations in the last few years. There are states in the U.S. that refuse to acknowledge such equality due to the overall religious disposition of their elected officials, and I imagine that the nations outside the U.S. that also deny these rights are similarly biased by their theologically misguided law making bodies. I personally think that it's a beautiful thing when two people love each other enough to want to merge their assets and legally incorporate themselves as one legal entity, regardless of what gender(s) the couple is. The gay community faces probably equally fierce bigotry as the atheist community, in some cases more, I'm sure. It's also mostly from the religious communities and their belief that their deity/ies want the abomination of non-reproductive relationships should abstain from any sexual contact or die. In case that is unclear, being a man with male friends is ok, but you can't cross swords and touch tips with said male friends because it's against the will of the divine and worthy of being put to death, the exception being David and Jonathon in the Old Testament (1 Samuel) and that relationship ends poorly anyway.

Equality should stand for being on the same terms in the eyes of your peers in every aspect, any right that one person has should never be greater or less than those of another. Everyone should be allowed the freedom to choose what they believe (within reason), the ability to have the leadership they collectively choose, the option join whomever in legal union/marriage regardless of gender or culture, have the same opportunity to succeed in life that anyone else has, and the list could go on forever so I'll stop here. This is my interpretation of equality, and I hope that I'm not alone. Help crate a better world for everyone, erase bigotry, hatred and dogmatic hypocrisy, and replace it with tolerance, education and empathy for others.