I do not subscribe to any particular doctrine, religion, political party, or other organized collection of viewpoints. I have views on a variety of subjects that I have come to believe based on my own experiences. These views are subject to change based on new experiences, research, or information. I tend to be called “progressive” or “liberal” based on many of these views, but hey… labels are just ways to pigeonhole people. I will post these views as I have time in case anyone gives a rat’s patootie.
Marriage: there are two different kinds of marriage. One is what happens in the church, and the church decides who it will marry. The Catholic church has rules about non-Catholics and divorcees, for example. No church should be required to relax those rules to accommodate people that do not conform to their beliefs. No church should be required to change their teachings to condone behavior that they believe is immoral. You can do whatever you want in your church, that’s the beauty of the separation of church and state; the state cannot govern the church.
The other is the legal contract granted by the state, and the state (which is governed by the Constitution) has an obligation to provide equal protection to all. Equal protection means that if a two-person contract granting property sharing rights can be given to a man and a woman, that two-person contract should be granted to two men or to two women. The rules currently provide for two consenting adults, and you cannot discriminate on gender or sexual preference. You also cannot discriminate based on one group’s view of morality, even if that group is the majority. That’s the other beauty of the separation of church and state; the church cannot govern the state.
From another purely constitutional perspective, once one state permitted equal marriage, a whole can of Constitutional worms was opened. We have a whole slew of federal and state issues as long as the laws vary from state to state, and marriages performed in one state are considered invalid in another. From a purely practical perspective, it is time to standardize the laws and accept the inevitable.
From a personal perspective, I have never seen a logical or reasonable argument that allowing homosexuals the right to marry would present a material risk to society. Every study that I have ever seen that argued that children were better off with one male and one female parent always included single parents in the study. The only individual cases I have ever seen where children were “harmed” in gay relationships were when one parent were carried off into an ultra-religious fervor and convinced that homosexuality was some horrible sin. I know a lot of people that were raised by one or more gay parents (including myself), and we are no more screwed up than those raised by straight people. We may be a little more tolerant in some cases, but that goes with the territory. Gay people are just as capable of long-term, committed, and loving relationships as everyone else, despite the stereotypes. They are often just as religious, once they find a community that doesn’t tell them that they’re going straight to hell, and often very moral.
Some people will say that marriage was meant to be one man and one woman. They’ll say that’s what is in the Bible, or that’s “Traditional Marriage.” I say look around the world at ALL of the traditions, not just the modern Judeo-Christian ethics of the last 3000 or so years. Our country was founded on the concepts of equality, freedom, and justice for all, even if we have never gotten around to practicing it. You may believe that your God wants your “traditional marriage” but I believe that the Jesus portrayed in the Bible would preach tolerance and love. He also knew the separation between the state and the church (remember that whole “render unto Caesar” bit?) I also believe that if God is really all-powerful, allowing people the right to enjoy the same freedom and happiness that you have is not going to hurt him in any way. Do you really, really believe it’s going to hurt you?
If so, tell me how at mutantkat@yahoo.com. Only through logical and reasonable discourse can we ever get through the hateful rhetoric on both sides and reach a consensus that will resolve this issue once and for all.
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