Gay Marriage

This is an issue that I already know many of you will disagree with, but I feel obligated…meh….not obligated…I just like forcing my opinion upon all of you! J

California recently voted in favor of proposition 8 in order to “protect marriage”. First of all…I hate that word protect! Why do people feel that the way to protect the sanctity of marriage is through prohibiting those people that are in love from getting married? It’s absurd to me. I understand that our current definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman, and that many (if not all) religions are widely against allowing gay couples to marry for this reason. This is not where my argument lies…

My argument lies with the fundamental right one should receive merely from being a human. Whether you agree with gay marriage or not, the privileges and rights that come from being legally “married” should very much so be distributed to gay and straight couples alike. The idea that we prohibit gay couples from important privileges like hospital visitation rights, the right to make medical decisions for their partners, the right to adopt a child, the right to file joint taxes (the list goes on) is hateful to say the least!! It’s also a blatant form of discrimination!

The recent vote in California to ban gay marriages angers me because of the mere fact that people were allowed to vote on it. People were and are allowed to vote on discriminating against a minority group of people and that’s shocking for a “civilized” country. Can you imagine if specific Supreme Court rulings in the past had been left up to the people to vote on?? Brown vs. the Board of Education (prohibiting racial segregation); Gideon v. Wainwright (which guaranteed a defendants right to legal counsel); or the insane number of cases that involved women’s rights! Let’s not forget the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln, and was HIGHLY unpopular at the time! Can you imagine if these important issues had been left up to a “majority vote”???

Prohibiting gay couples from obtaining the same rights offered to their “straight” counterparts is the simplest form of discrimination, and it shocks me that more people aren’t outraged at this! What’s even more shocking, are the ignorant ideas that a gay couple truly in love, is somehow still worse than those out there that have been married and divorced time and time again….where’s the sanctity of marriage there??

It’s ridiculous to me that religious people are at the forefront of this argument, denying these American citizens this right. Call it a civil union, domestic partnership…whatever you want that may help you sleep at night…but the idea that we’re taking away these people’s rights based on their sexual orientation is disgusting. Do we take away the rights of liars, adulterers, those that worship a different god than ours, or those that take the Lord’s name in vain? No. Why is this any different?

Since when do we have the right to force our beliefs, values, or opinions on others? If you don’t like the idea of gay marriage…don’t marry a gay person…but the idea that just because it’s against our religious beliefs, or it makes us uncomfortable, are ridiculous, petty, naïve, ignorant, pathetic (and whatever other synonyms I can think of) reasons to continue this discrimination.