It’s time to discuss same-sex marriage.
President Obama’s support of marriage equality has opened the flood gates of a discussion that is long overdue. It has also exposed a sea of bigots who now have to publicly face the music for their antiquated opinions.
When Mr. Obama surprised everyone by announcing during an election year his support of marriage equality, all of the gay rights opponents came crawling out of the woodwork like ants at a picnic, spewing their long rehearsed lines to bolster their discriminatory views.
“This is a war on marriage.”
“This will destroy the sanctity of marriage.”
“If we allow gays to marry, what’s next: men marrying a toaster?”
To all those bible-thumping conservatives who believe it’s OK to use God as an excuse for their bigotry, these arguments make total sense. But for the rest of the world, it’s a crock of baloney that is seen for exactly what it is: DISCRIMINATION!
So exactly how is this a “war on marriage?” Anytime conservatives don’t like an opposing opinion, they always call it a “war” against whatever it is THEY believe. Except, there is no war. If the couple down the street gets married, it wouldn’t matter if they’re gay, straight, young, old, or whatever. Their marriage wouldn’t affect anyone else’s marriage. However, for opponents of marriage equality, they’re spinning the same arguments that were used when it was once illegal for blacks and whites to marry.
Just how does a same-sex couple “destroy the sanctity of marriage?” Perhaps in 1940, marriage was solely based on love. But nowadays, people get married for convenience, tax purposes, a green card, an unexpected pregnancy, a reality TV show (see “The Bachelor” or anything involving Kim Kardashian), or for boredom, such as when Brittany Spears got married for 55 hours in Las Vegas on a lark. No one has come out against these sham marriages between heterosexuals, yet they’ve made it their life’s work to go against real, love-filled marriages between 2 homosexuals. Pathetic!
Opponents to marriage equality argue that it’s wrong to “redefine marriage.” But what these bigots don’t know or don’t want to know is, the original definition of marriage was not something sacred. In fact, marriages were meant to handle the granting of property rights and the protection of bloodlines. For example, ancient Hebrew law required a man to become the husband of a deceased brother’s widow so that the bloodline remained in tact. Marriages weren’t always conducted in a church either. This is important, since gay couples haven’t been lining up to request a church service for their marriage, but merely wanted a civil ceremony to provide them with basic legal rights.
And what’s with the argument “If we allow gays to marry, what’s next: men marrying a toaster?” We are talking about marriage between 2 HUMANS, not a human and some inanimate object. So, regardless if someone is black, white, gay, straight, young, old, thick, thin, rich or poor, so long as they are capable of signing a marriage license, they should be permitted to marry any other person of their choosing. And the key word here is PERSON! As the joke goes, “For all the heterosexual couples getting divorced, we should let gays get married so they can be as miserable as the rest of us!”
America is supposed to be the world leader, yet sadly, we are very far behind much of the world when it comes to the idea of same-sex relationships. Discrimination is a powerful thing and it has a long history in our country, however, we are supposed to be a nation based on differences with respect of those differences. Some people are Christian, yet some are Atheist. Some people are Democrat, yet some are Republican. Some people are Straight, yet some people are gay. But so what?
Just how much longer do we give ourselves permission to be bigots and attempt to impose our personal belief structure on others?
10 REASONS TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE
~ a farce ~
1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people should’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
"Just how much longer do we give ourselves permission to be bigots and attempt to impose our personal belief structure on others?"Well I have to say that I take exception to the words "We" and "Ourselves" because quite honestly, I'm NOT in that number (Thank the good Lord). And why should "We" (those of us who are NOT part of that shameful group) give actual BIGOTS (Black or White) any cover???"WE" shouldn't.But I get your point DJ. Time has about run out for homobigots.Yes, they will continue to make hateful and prejudicial comments. They will continue to promote and support intolernace of, AND discrimination against, Gays. And NO DOUBT some (if not most) of the LOUDEST and UGLIEST voices will come from right-wing, and Black, PULPITS..which is absolutely hysterical when you think about the total hypocrisy of too many preachers to take seriously. But the good news is the ranks of their followers (at least on THIS issue) shrink smaller and smaller every day, as more and more people realize THIS… Read more »