Gay Marriage

Gay Marriage, marriage, what is the difference? The difference is that Gay marriage is the union between two people, a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Marriage is between two people. Some people say between a man and a woman, and others, like gays, say it's between the one they love even if they are the same sex. Why can't people that are the same sex get married? How would you feel if your rights where taken away, made illegal, because you're "different"? Who says what marriage is and by whom it is to be defined? The married? Isn't that kind of like allowing a banker to decide who is going to own the money in stored in his vaults?

There is a lot of misunderstanding about what homosexuality really is, as well as that the gay people enjoy the same civil rights protections as everyone else. There are also a lot of stereotypes about gay relationships, and even a great deal of misunderstanding of what marriage itself is all about and what its purpose is. Being gay is look down upon by so called "normal" people. The stereotype has it that gays are promiscuous, unable to form lasting relationships, and the relationships that do form are shallow and uncommitted. And gays do have such relationships! They do not like that fact that gays want a right to be happy and get married. They shun it, despise it, and discriminate people, because of their sexuality. Why would other people care about two people of the same sex getting married? Are they getting married right there in your face, in your house? No, they are not. They are only going public because their rights are slowing being taken away. Don't you think that if they had the right to get married that they wouldn't make such a big deal about it?

If you would ask any "normal" person about gay marriage, most people

who know nothing about it would simply say "it's nasty" or "It's wrong" and sometimes just plain out "their weird." Now do people no matter what race, color, or sexuality should be looked on like that? They should have the respect that everyone deserves. Ask just about anyone. They'll all tell you they're in favor of equal rights for homosexuals. Just name the situation, and ask. They'll all say, yes, gays should have the same rights in housing, jobs, public accommodations, and should have equal access to government benefits, equal protection of the law, etc. Then you get to gay marriage. And that's when all this talk of equality stops dead cold.

More than half of all people in the United States oppose gay marriage, even though three fourths are otherwise supportive of gay rights. This means that many of the same people who are even passionately in favor of gay rights oppose gays on this one issue. Should this be fair? If they believe that gays should get their rights, than explain why they are not excepting Gay marriage? It seems to be that justice demands that if the straight community cannot show a compelling reason to deny the institution of marriage to gay people, it shouldn't be denied. And such simple, unfair declarations, with no real moral argument behind them, are hardly compelling reasons. They're really more like an expression of prejudice than any kind of a real argument. The concept of not denying people their rights unless you can show a compelling reason to deny them is the very basis of the American ideal of human rights.

The fact that people aren't comfortable with the idea is primarily from the fact that for many years, society has promoted the idea that a marriage between members of the same sex is ludicrous, mainly because of the objections raised above. But if those objections don't make sense, neither does the idea that gay marriage is necessarily ludicrous. Societies have long recognized that allowing civil rights to certain groups may offend some, and at times, even the majority. But that is why constitutional government was established, to ensure that powerless, unpopular minorities are still protected from the tyranny of the majority. Simple discomfort with a proposal is no reasonable basis for not allowing gays to get married. How many Southern whites were once uncomfortable with allowing blacks to ride in the front of the bus, or allowing black children to attend the same schools as their own, or drink at the same drinking fountain? Half a century ago, those ideas were just as unthinkable but nowadays, hardly anybody sees them as a problem, seeing the fears as nothing more than racism, pure and simple.

The Bible has absolutely no standing in American law, no one has the right to impose rules anyone else simply because of something they perceive to be a moral injunction mandated by the Bible. Not all world religions have a problem with homosexuality; many sects of Buddhism,