"I Now Pronounce You Man and Man"
It's with this that I place my hands on my butt
Just giving anyone who is reading this a quick heads up. There are probably going to be things that are said in this that some might find offensive. Im warning you here and now about that. If you continue to read this, you were warned. Im just trying to cover my ass on this one. If you dont agree with some or even all of what is said here, good for you. I respect the right of everyone to not like what is being said by anyone at any time. Just remember this: I am only one person in the world, and this is being seen by a very limited audience at best. If you dont like it, say something about it. If you do like it, say something about it. This is one side, and if you want your side said, then do something about it.
There are so many things that are going on in the world. In the US, the economy is floundering. Unemployment is at a level that has not been seen in decades. Soldiers are being sent to fight for the freedom of other people over half a world away. Basically, things aren't good right now.
I find it rather odd that we are sending people to another country to fight and die for the rights of others, and yet in this country at this moment there is a battle that is being waged for the rights of people. It is an issue that has been around for quite some time, and is now getting thrust into the forefront. It started in places like San Francisco, and more recently in Massachusetts. The issue that I am of course talking about is gay marriage.
This country was founded because we were not given the rights of others. It even says in the constitution that every citizen has the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Why is it then that we are continually trying to restrict the rights of people?
Well, let's dive in and see what we can find.
Fight of Biblical Proportions
The main group that is opposed to gay marriage is the religious. It is stated in the Bible that marriage is only supposed to be for a man and a woman. It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, or Amanda and Eve. That is true, I'll give them that. However, times and things change. The Bible was written thousands of years ago. A great deal has happened since then. Yes, I know that for the most part the Bible is mainly a set of guidelines that are to be followed. It is something that is supposed to be followed so that everyone would still be in good grace with God. God himself is a bit of an odd duck. He can be very compassionate one minute, and then full of wrath the next. He had his own son killed. There are so many rules in the Bible that one thing often times goes against another. You technically cant even go to the bathroom if you followed everything.
People have been fighting for their religious beliefs almost longer than can be recorded. People have also been killed by others because their religious views differed from those of others. With all of this persecution throughout the ages, you think that they would lighten up and try to help others out in a similar situation. Almost every religion that I can think of has faced persecution at some point, so for them to persecute because of someone elses beliefs just seems a little hypocritical.
There are enough things that some of the religious groups have to deal with anyway. I'm Catholic, and right now, I would say that they have a lot of their own issues to work out before standing against gay marriage. First thing that comes to mind is the thousands of accusations of molestation by priests. Let me get this straight- you don't want gay marriage, but youve been turning your head for years while grown men had sex with young boys? I can't be the only one here that thinks theres something wrong with that. Of course, that is one of the reasons why I'm not the most religious person right now, but that is another topic for another day.
Like I said before, yes, the Bible does say that it was Adam and Eve. No getting around that fact if it is true. However, did you ever think that the entire human race started from two people? Doesn't that mean that there had to have been incest? How exactly is that normal? If there were three or four people, then yeah, I could kind of see it working right, but two?
Define Irony
I was flipping through the channels, and I came across a news report about a protest that was going on about the ruling in Massachusetts that now makes gay marriage legal in that state. There was a woman that was standing behind a podium who was saying that they were going to fight the ruling. There were people standing around her that had signs that said various slurs like fag, queer, and the like. I have a problem with this. Women were given very few rights in this country. They only received the right to vote less than a hundred years ago. They had to fight for equality in the workplace, at school, and just to be seen as equals in other respects. So for this woman to be standing up there trying to deny a group of people the right of marriage just looks bizarre to me.
Add to this the color of her skin. She was a black woman. African Americans have had it harder than just about any other ethnic group in this country other than Native Americans. They have had to fight for their rights in the face or racism just because the color of their skin, and they are somewhat doing it still today. So here she is standing up in front of the world on television trying to suppress the rights of others. I had to turn it off to avoid laughing too much at the ridiculousness. How can you have fought for your own rights before and now are doing the exact same thing that you had to fight against?
Hypocrisy is never pretty, but it can be amusing for all the wrong reasons.
De-Institutionalized
The phrase that is getting thrown out a great deal is the "sacred institution of marriage." Face the facts, there is very little that is sacred about it anymore. Statistics show that more than one in two marriages end in divorce before five years. Death do us part doesn't mean jack anymore. The vows that many say are nothing more than just running through the motions without any real meaning in them. All of the presents that were received may not even be unwrapped before people decide that they made a mistake. Sure, it's one of the oldest institutions in the world today, but sometimes things have to change when they get old to deal with the new.
If it's so ****ed up right now, then why shouldn't gays be allowed to wed? Could it get any worse; I doubt that very much. Hell, it might be better then. I can't say that because I dont know for sure. You can't say that it would be worse because it's already so damn bad right now. No one can say for certain that it would get worse. No one can say for certain it would get better.
Although, if I were putting money on it, I'd let it ride on better.
A Disease of the Mind?
Until the latter half of the twentieth century if I can recall right, homosexuality was viewed as a mental illness. There are still some people who think it is. There are some who think that if you are around gay people, they will turn you, and you will become gay. Bull****. If you just suddenly become gay, chances are that you were all along, it's just that you tried to suppress it yourself because it goes against the majority standard. Throughout the average persons life, they are pounded with the ideals that are supposed to be followed in the world, and one of them is that a man and a woman are the only acceptable couple. However, there are some that do not embrace this ideal, and that's that for them.
Its not a mental disease. Its not a sickness. It's just something that's different, and there are still numerous people today that fear anything that is different.
Triple Standard
Im a guy. I think the same things that most guys think about. One fantasy that many men have is to have sex with two women. If there were two women involved, wouldn't that make the women gay? Another standard fantasy is seeing two women together. With no man involved at all, then surely they must be gay. However, bring up the idea of two men together, and that's where most people have the problem. I dont see why though. It's basically just the same as two women, except they are a different sex. The standard of a man and a woman is universally accepted, and two women together is not accepted by all, but it is tolerated far more than two men. Maybe it's because of imagining that would be emasculating men, and men are supposed to be gruff and strong. If that is the case, then why doesn't bringing up the thought of two women make them seem more masculine?
I dunno, I'm just one person trying to make sense of something that millions can't.
Bottom Line
Right now, president Gee Dub wants to make an amendment to the constitution that would make gay marriage illegal in the United States. If it passes, which I really hope it doesn't and highly doubt it will, it will be the first time that the constitution was amended to suppress the rights of the people that live in this country (I don't count prohibition). Am I the only one worried about what kind of precedent that would set?
Im not gay. I know people who are. There's nothing wrong with them. They're just people, like you or anyone else. They just choose to live a different lifestyle than others. I see no problems with that. All the laws and amendments that get made will not change the way that they think and the things that they do. Being gay is more accepted now than what it was only a few years ago, but they still have a long way to go. If gay marriage were made legal, it would not be the end of the world. If anything, it would bring the world one more step to being better by ending one more stupid argument.
They're here. They're queer. Deal with it.
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