Political Rant: Gay Marriage
The current furor surrounding the issue of same sex marriage is really just a distraction that the administration is using to direct attention away from the numerous domestic and international failures of the last 4 years. Sadly the best way for democrats to counter the tactic is to come out against gay marriage as well to make it a non-issue in the presidential race. If both sides agree, voters won't make their decision based on the issue. Although that would be a pragmatic strategy, it is totally unjustifiable both legally and morally. It's sad that the vast majority of Americans oppose same sex marriage since they don't really understand what is at stake. The real fight is over equal rights to tax benefits, health care benefits, social security, etc...Most people perceive it as a religious issue instead. Even if the US government made same sex marriage legal and gave gays the same rights as heterosexual couples there would be no religious implication. Catholics priests could still refuse to perform homosexual marriages, as could rabbis, ministers, and representatives of every other religion. Legalizing secular same sex marriage would not necessarily lead to religious same sex marriages. While religious marriage ceremonies typically employ rituals and recognition of God's approval of the union, civil marriage is just a legal contract essentially. God has no place in the secular state and his/her/its opinion on homosexual union is irrelevant to whether or not said unions should be legally recognized. In addition, the arguments against same sex marriage are extremely weak. The main argument put forth is that homosexual marriage threatens the sanctity of straight marriages. Well "sanctity" is a religious expression and as stated above there is no religious implication in allowing civil marriages to same sex couples. Religious marriages would still be protected from heretical or sinful unions as each religion has the right to admit or bar whomever and whatever they choose (of course it is worth noting that several of the more progressive religious movements already allow same sex unions within their religious laws so apparently God expressed a different opinion to those religious leaders than to those on the right, assuming that God has been talking to anybody, which is a subject for another rant). The argument that same sex marriage somehow threatens heterosexual marriage is the most ridiculous notion of all. It isn't as if heterosexuals will start marrying into gay couples if it becomes legal. Straight men will still prefer women and straight women will still prefer men. The 10% of the population that is gay will just be able to enjoy the same benefits as straight couples, there will be absolutely no change in the straight lifestyle. Down with discrimination!
