Jan 10 2009
How do I feel about Gay Marriage? I am for it.
This blog was born from a conversation (read between the lines, I mean argument) between my husband and I on a recent road trip (a little tip: try not to argue at the beginning of an eight hour drive, it makes it seem much longer). It was revived after Obama chose Rick Warren for the inaugural prayer and is just now making it onto our blog.
Should gay people have the right to be married? Yes. Should the US allow state to state discrimination as each scrambles to either embrace or legislate against gay marriage? No. Should anyone listen to religious leaders (Rick Warren) who liken being gay to being an angry, violent, or shy person, a personality flaw to overcome? Absolutely not.
The second that marriage leapt from a religious ceremony to a licensed civil institution it should have become illegal to discriminate any two consenting adults from entering into it. Gay marriage will not lead to people marrying animals, this is not a slippery slope, it is sad that this is a point that has to be made again and again.
I cannot understand the need for people to spend their lives denying other’s life experiences that we take for granted. Being married means something, it means something for your relationship, for your families, and to society at large. Asking gay people to forgo this is tantamount to the discrimination suffered by the African Americans.
What? Have I gone too far? I don’t think so.
The idea that it is ok for gays to marry in some states and not in others baffles me. How is this right? How is this just? Let each state decide? This is allowing discrimination on a state by state basis. This should not be an issue of state sovereignty but of constitutional rights. I want my friends and loved ones to live freely right here. It is beyond sad that a gay couple may have to leave their home and their family to live as a married couple. How about we send all of the backwards bible thumping people to live in their own state and leave the rest of us sane people alone? That is an amendment I could really get behind.
Thank you. As a married lesbian in Massachusetts, we need all the support from straight people that we can get.
I’m not looking to argue so please I hope no one takes it that way; but I feel the need to post. I’m a Christian woman, was born into a Christian home. I don’t hate because I do have friends who are gay. I know I’m a sinner, I know I’m not perfect. My personal opinion which I understand many will disagree with, is that people are not born gay. I believe this because God gives us a the ability to choose right from wrong - free will. I do believe being gay is wrong so being born gay takes away that free will of choosing right from wrong.
Everything I do in my life I do for God; work, school, marriage, TV and movies, etc. So why wouldn’t my voting be the same? If I voted no on prop 8 I’d be going against God and that is what people are asking of me and many others.
We’re all not aloud to marry relatives, anyone related by blood; it’s illegal. There are some who’d disagree as having a sibling you did not grow up with, meeting them as a stranger later in life and falling in love not as brother and sister; those people would argue and think the law is unfair. We’re not aloud to marry more than one person at a time. I’m sure there are many out there who would disagree with this as well. And you commented on marrying animals; there was a man over in Europe I believe who married his dog or farm animal for some reason, I can’t remember the reason. So if it were legal it would happen here too. I know they are all different but they are all laws that someone out there has a problem with and just because a large majority says it should be legalized doesn’t make it right.
I am not saying I’m better than someone who’s gay. Like I stated above, I’m a sinner too and I don’t believe any sin is greater than another; I think in God’s eyes all sins are equal which means I’m no better than anyone.
I don’t agree however with the nullification of the marriages that already happened because those were legal at the time. It’s not a contradiction, but I feel going after them would be unfair. In my eyes that shows hatred or like your going after them for something personal.
Hope that made sense, I am not trying to change your mind just wanted to give you my point of view. I know that there are probably a lot of people out there who voted out of hatred but I am not one of them.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment back. Please understand I was not looking for an argument; this wasn’t meant to sound negative or rude in any way. =)
Religous people or “Bible Thumping” people as you call them are going to have a religious viewpoint just as gay people are going to have a gay viewpoint. You sound a little discriminatory toward religious views much in the same way you claim states are discriminatory in the refusal to allow gay marriage.
As for Rick Warren, if you call a charismatic minister to preach, or pray, you are going to get exactly what you pay for. What is wrong with that? We live in a country where everyone is entitled to believe and say whatever their viewpoint is, including gays. That is what makes America what it is.
The thought that gay marriage undermines the institution of marriage between a man and a woman is not so novel. It is true. Because the institution of marriage has always been between opposite sexes, any other idea would undermine its predecessor by default. That isn’t to say it is right or wrong, just logical. Any new idea, by nature, always stands to undermine the current position in some way. It is because of this undermining, people are against it.
The institution of marriage has been under attack for a long time now. Not by gays, but by men and woman everywhere. Divorce has done more to undermine the institution than the gays will ever do. When one considers that slightly more than half of all marriages end in divorce, that says it all. No further undermining necessary.
absolutely!
Gay marriage curses the whole nation and desantcifies marriage in this country….
“How about we send all of the backwards bible thumping people to live in their own state and leave the rest of us sane people alone?”
Isn’t that what Alaska is for?
not4ureyes2c,
I too am a Christian, but I am also an American. There are more than a few differences between you and I. I would never use legislation to enforce my own morality, and secondly, gay people are not sinning. God created them exactly the way that they are. For you to ask them to live their lives denying who they were created to be, and then taking it further by denying them the same rights granted to you as an American is discrimination, and that is what you voted for.
Bluesistersredstate.
ndfenceofobama,
You are right, I am against those that would violate the foundation of this country which was built on the separation between church and state. The foundation intended to allow anyone to live freely irregardless of their beliefs. I don’t care who or what people believe in, as long as it does not infringe on the rights of my fellow citizens.
I say go ahead and crusade to save the religious institution of marriage. Have parades, pray holding hands, legislate against divorce, do whatever you need to do to sleep at night. But if marriage continues to be a civil institution requiring license and carrying with it tax and other benefits it should be legal for any two consenting adults to enter it.
davidrude,
Homophobia is not an attractive trait. As for the sanctity of our country, that went out the window when George W. Bush took office for the first time.
Maybe I’m gay because I suck!