What Exactly Is The Big Deal?
I heard on the news this morning that another constitutional amendment is being put together regarding gay rights, trying (not for the first time, I believe) to define marriage as the union exclusively between a man and a woman.
I still can't pin down what the big deal is. What are the right wingers so terrified of? Having something in common with the homosexual community, namely the right to wed? Are they afraid that allowing marriage to include pairings of the same sex is going to somehow defile their own matrimonial ties? Maybe it's the fact that the majority of weddings take place in churches, largely in part to get the Church's acknowledgement of the marriage. If the church recognizes the union, than the church has to recognize the people being joined together. Oooh, a sticky wicket indeed.
Would it solve the problem if they all became Satanists? Or Agnostics or Atheists, and left God out of the equation altogether? Or would that not be good enough either?
Maybe it's the legal aspect of the whole thing. Perhaps the conservative types don't want their laws mingling with the laws of the gays. Weren't we supposed to learn to share in Elementary School?
Then there's the possibility that the conservatives don't want anyone horning in on their divorce action. One out of every Two marriages ends in divorce. One out of Two. If the homosexual community was able to legally embrace a stable, legal union that they had to struggle to establish in the first place (like they do now), they might actually be invested in working harder to make it last. That 50% ratio might go back down a bit. We certainly can't have that.
Of course, I'm not being entirely fair. I should make an attempt to see both sides of the issue. I'm a Libra, that's what we're good at. I think it's a classic case of "I don't understand it, so I'm afraid of it." Fear can be a good thing. It helps avoid some very real threats to health and safety. It can also be irrational.
I hate spiders. They creep me out, entirely. Hate 'em. But I've never seen a poisonous one, and I've never been bitten. Probably never will. But that fear is still there.
Still. This is the 21st Century, according to our calendar. Things that were considered amoral, illegal, and offenses-punishable-by-death a few hundred years ago are no longer accurate or in effect: Like eating meat every day of the week. Letting your wife go to work, or show her face in public. Watching your son bring home a girlfriend of a different race. Heavens forbid.
Like it or not, the gay community is real. They're human beings with the same right to privileges as everyone else. Regardless of who they decide to share affection with.
Deal with it.
I still can't pin down what the big deal is. What are the right wingers so terrified of? Having something in common with the homosexual community, namely the right to wed? Are they afraid that allowing marriage to include pairings of the same sex is going to somehow defile their own matrimonial ties? Maybe it's the fact that the majority of weddings take place in churches, largely in part to get the Church's acknowledgement of the marriage. If the church recognizes the union, than the church has to recognize the people being joined together. Oooh, a sticky wicket indeed.
Would it solve the problem if they all became Satanists? Or Agnostics or Atheists, and left God out of the equation altogether? Or would that not be good enough either?
Maybe it's the legal aspect of the whole thing. Perhaps the conservative types don't want their laws mingling with the laws of the gays. Weren't we supposed to learn to share in Elementary School?
Then there's the possibility that the conservatives don't want anyone horning in on their divorce action. One out of every Two marriages ends in divorce. One out of Two. If the homosexual community was able to legally embrace a stable, legal union that they had to struggle to establish in the first place (like they do now), they might actually be invested in working harder to make it last. That 50% ratio might go back down a bit. We certainly can't have that.
Of course, I'm not being entirely fair. I should make an attempt to see both sides of the issue. I'm a Libra, that's what we're good at. I think it's a classic case of "I don't understand it, so I'm afraid of it." Fear can be a good thing. It helps avoid some very real threats to health and safety. It can also be irrational.
I hate spiders. They creep me out, entirely. Hate 'em. But I've never seen a poisonous one, and I've never been bitten. Probably never will. But that fear is still there.
Still. This is the 21st Century, according to our calendar. Things that were considered amoral, illegal, and offenses-punishable-by-death a few hundred years ago are no longer accurate or in effect: Like eating meat every day of the week. Letting your wife go to work, or show her face in public. Watching your son bring home a girlfriend of a different race. Heavens forbid.
Like it or not, the gay community is real. They're human beings with the same right to privileges as everyone else. Regardless of who they decide to share affection with.
Deal with it.
posted by Casey Jones @ 2/08/2005 10:06:00 AM
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