Illustration by William Rerick/The Dakota Student. 

I’m a little bit grumpy with the Olympics. I’m sure you’ve heard about how unprepared Sochi is to host the Games; it’s all over social media. Hotels aren’t finished. Manholes are left uncovered and unmarked. Snowflakes aren’t expanding into Olympic rings as programmed

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Games, but I never disliked them, either. I’ve always thought the Games more a noble effort, a step towards global friendship.  Maybe it’s because I’m not a huge fan of watching sports on T.V.

Or maybe it’s because Russia’s view of homosexuality is turning the Games into a farce.

The Games should be about bringing people together and uniting the populations in friendly competition. But they’re being held in a city that isn’t prepared and in a country that isn’t giving human beings equal rights.

Though Sochi is on the other side of the world, there is a similarity that disturbs me every time I think about it. Human rights issues in Sochi seem awfully like the ones going on in our own backyard.

Maybe there aren’t thousands of protesters being hosed down in front of city hall. Maybe there aren’t laws that make the act of loving another person illegal. But we still aren’t giving everyone the same rights. Instead, we’re discriminating against a population of people based solely on the person they fall in love with.

This isn’t about the perceived “sanctity” of marriage. Marriage was never sacred. It started as a way to keep the peace between clans. We are trying to hold it to this idealized dream of what it never was.

This is about human rights. It bothers me that right across the river in Minnesota, many of my friends can be married, but here they can’t. We are so close to an area that allows people to be people and, yet, we are still stuck in inequality.

Sure, things like the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” affect us, but that was, in a way, decided for us. We, as a state, have not made a move to make everyone equal like our neighbors to the east have.

When I first moved to Grand Forks, I was struck by how diverse it was. There were multiple houses of worship for many religions. People from all over the world gathered at UND. There is no lack of diversity here.

Yet some of my friends still don’t stand on equal ground in the eyes of the law. They can’t get legally married.

A woman can’t be at her partner’s side in the hospital because they aren’t married. Two men who’ve been in a committed, long term relationship -— married in all eyes except the law’s — cannot file taxes together. It breaks my heart that couples who are just as in love as straight couples can’t be married.

Our nation was founded on the idea that all are created equal, but that has yet to be seen.

In a way, I hate saying “we” because I’m lumping myself and other allies in with the bigots that are limiting equal rights.

However, my use of the word “we” is my acknowledgement that we are together in this fight. We as a nation are fighting against the few who just happen to be yelling loud enough to be heard.

We need to yell louder.

I know people are trying to make things right. I know many of them. I like to believe I’m one of them.

We may not be able to do anything active in Russia without hopping on a very expensive flight -— a flight that I, as a college student, certainly can’t afford — but we can certainly start working on human rights here and now.

Kjerstine Troolen is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].