Over the last 20o years, different groups of people have had to fight to obtain certain basic rights that the white men of America have enjoyed since this country's founding. In 1865 slavery was legally abolished. Shortly there after, in 1870, black men received the right to vote. Back in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, women had to fight for their right to vote, and at times the backlash turned cruel and torturous, but they finally won that battle in 1920. In 1964, the efforts of the Civil Rights movement came to fruition, via Act 5, ending segregation. Finally, interracial marriage was finally made legal, in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in 1967.
Now let's jump ahead to present day. Homosexuals are now fully engulfed in a battle of their own. I am lucky enough to live in a city that has said discrimination toward homosexuals is illegal (though it took a nationally publicized, and lengthy legal battle). It seems that every month or so, another state grants the right of marriage to the GLBT community, although, it is still illegal for same sex couples to get married in Colorado.
This issue is about a persons' rights. The GLBT community is fighting for the right to become legally married. By that, I mean to call such a union "marriage" and enjoy all the rights afforded to such a joining. I really didn't understand why people were so against calling a union between a same sex couple "marriage." I found the entire thing perplexing. I've spent the last year or so speaking with many individuals, in my attempt to understand the aversion to the title of marriage for same sex couples.
The word "marriage" is defined in Webster's Dictionary, as this:
1. The social institution under which a man and a woman live as husband and wife by legal or religious commitments.
2. The state, condition, or relationship of being married.
3. The legal or religious ceremony that formalizes marriage.
4. An intimate living arrangement without legal sanction.
5. Any intimate association or union.
6. A blending of different elements or components."
If one were to strip away the obviously prejudicial definition of marriage in the first version of the Webster's entry, than all the others are of an indiscriminately inclusive nature of the word "marriage."
Some have suggested the word marriage be redefined. To what end? Why is the word marriage so predisposed to only belong to heterosexual couples? Someone told me that society could create a new word, a different word that would still have the same legal applications as the word marriage. They said the word marriage should belong to straight couples only, as that is how it has always been. That person threw out "gay-arriage." Call me crazy, but if you slap a thick British accent on it, the word would sound like the place you park your car.
If certain people are so upset about gay people getting married, than don't marry one! Why do people care? How does gay marriage hurt anyone? Well, I've had several conversations with people that are against same sex marriage. The responses are as follows:
"Gay marriage is against the God."
"It's supposed to be Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." Please, that one is so gay.
"Same sex marriage goes against Judaeo-Christian beliefs."
"You must consider the sanctity of marriage, and what it means."
"Gay marriage will corrupt my children."
"If the people grant gay marriage, it will eventually lead to legalizing people being able to mary animals." This one is my favorite. Same sex marriage is the gateway to people having sex with animals? I'm sorry, but people having sex with animals is the strongest argument against repealing the death penalty.
Let's delve into the religious reasons against same sex marriage:
The bible says that homosexuality is an abomination. Leviticus 18:22.
Leviticus also says that touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean: Leviticus: 11:7. How did that go over in the early days of football?
Any child who curses its' parent shall be put to death: Leviticus: 21:17.
Leviticus continues to say that any man who touches the bed where a woman with her period has been, shall be unclean: Leviticus: 20-27.
The holy book goes on to say that the entire town must come together to stone someone for planting different crops side by side: Leviticus: 19:19
It’s okay to burn someone for wearing a garment made of two different threads: Leviticus: 19:19.
But wait, there’s more:
The bible states that selling one's daughter into slavery is sanctioned in Exodus: 21:7, as well as working on the Sabbath is punishable by death: Exodus: 35:2. It also says that any man who engages in a sexual act with an animal, shall be out to death, and so shall the animal: Exodus: 22:19. What the hell? What did the animal do? Was the animal so beguiling that it simply overwhelmed the poor sap?
Are we to take the bible literally? If so, than I dare suggest that everyone I know is doomed to execution, if not the fires of hell.
Some people I have spoken with have talked about the "sanctity of marriage" as a defense against allowing same sex couples to legally wed. The sanctity of marriage? The average divorce rate in this country for first marriages is 41%. That's right, 41%. It gets worse from there. Second marriages end in divorce by 60%, and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. Where's the sanctity in that? Sanctity indeed.
Now to the corruption of our country's children. How does same sex marriage corrupt our nation's children? What is the basis of this argument? It was once thought that homosexuality was a mental disease. It was even classified as a disease as recently as 1973, until the American Psychiatric Association removed it from their list of mental disorders. After that, medical science has proven that people are born the way they are born. Once puberty starts, and all those hormones start to kick in, the game is over. It is at that point that some of our children start to realize, in some small way, that they are different from the majority of their peers. They start to have sexual feelings about others who are exactly like them (in a gender specific way). It is an extremely difficult process to go through, as society has clearly laid out what the youth of this country are supposed to do. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, and eventually a family will ensue (a dog usually shows up too). Most of the time, that's the way it works, but from time to time, it manifests itself in a different fashion all together.
It has been suggested that having a same sex couple living a few homes away from a heterosexual family would be a corruptive influence on that straight family's children.
In what way?
What will a same sex couple living on the same block, or in the same building, have to do with the essential development of that straight family's children living near them? Will those, ever so impressionable, children learn about "deviant behavior" that is considered by some to be against God? Only if their parents tell them about it. It all starts at home.
Prejudice is something that children learn from their parents. Parents have an awesome responsibility, in that they are in control of the majority of what their kids learn, experience, and absorb during the formative years. If the parents are racist, sexist, or homophobic, than those traits are passed on to their children.
People used to be arrested on "morals" charges back in the middle of the last century. That charge was primarily used against homosexuals. One example of this, albeit not that well known, was the arrest of Bayard Rustin in 1953. He was brought up on morals charges, and subsequently convicted of the same, because he was gay. Mr. Rustin was the right hand man to Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights movement, and was the tactical genius behind the 1963 march on Washington. He was an incredible civil rights activist who, because of the black (or rainbow) mark on his legal record, had to step out of the lime light, and was never able to truly explore his full potential.
The states might want to dust off the old morals charge, in preparation for the onslaught of bestiality that's coming our way. According to some, if same sex marriage is to become legalized in the United States, then soon people will want to marry their pets. While Scruffy can be cute and even adorable at times, I don't know of anyone that feels an uncontrollable urge to legally formalize that union, to say nothing of consummating their special relationship. Granted, I'm sure there are some out there that would want to wed their animals, and if they are willing to stand up, come together, and make their voices heard, than I say let them try. Good luck to you all. Chicken fuckers unite!
After all the political rhetoric is done, after all the religious fervor has died down, I find that what is left, the real reason that some are so vehemently opposed to same sex marriage, are the same things that have always been behind depriving different groups of people certain rights and privileges: ignorance and fear.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered people live, work, shop, and generally go about their lives right next to everyone else. We are farmers and business people, students and teachers, police officers and fire fighters, fast food employees and government officials, scholars and illiterates, and have been around since time immemorial. Chances are that you know one of us, even if you don't realize it.
To those that believe same sex marriage should not be legal, think about this:
Is it that you feel there is so much love in the world, that there is no room for others to share the legally recognized, and legally binding, union that you enjoy?
We are not asking you to agree, or even embrace, how we choose to express our love. We do not wish to take anything away from anyone else. We wish to express our love equally to your own. We only want the same rights and privileges that you enjoy, if not take for granted.
As of this writing, change is coming, no matter how you may try to deny it. Please take a moment to think what it would be like, if you were told by your government, you could not marry.
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