Gay Marriage

Ah, now here's a nice, spicy topic to blog about! I had a little argument with a relative today about gay marriage. It got me angry and worked up. So I'll rant here, since this is a convenient place.

So let's just get the main question out of the way. Should we allow gay marriage? Yes!

Why?

Ah, now that's a good question. But I think there is a better question: why not?

Let's look at a couple of the arguments against gay marriage.

One common argument is that marriage is intended to be between a man and a woman. That's how God intended it, and we shouldn't meddle with that. We must protect the sanctity of marriage.

I heard another argument today, that our taxes will be used to pay for workers to write up and file paperwork for gay marriages. Why should our tax money pay for their marriage?

I'm going to address the second argument first, because I'll want to spend more time on the first one.

Certain people have expressed the concern that their taxes will pay for workers to write up and file paperwork for gay marriages, and these certain people dislike this idea. However, they fail to realize that homosexuals pay just as much in taxes as the rest of us, and that the homosexual's taxes are used to pay for workers who write up and file paperwork for the straight person's marriage. They pay the same taxes, so why should they not have the same rights?

Ok, I'm done talking about taxes. Let's move on to the whole sanctity of marriage thing.

So, marriage was "intended to be between a man and a woman", right? Well, Biblically, that isn't quite true. If you want to go by the Bible, marriage was intended to be between a man and a woman before the eyes of God. The italicized part is important. Why? Because, according to the Christian traditions that these people are trying to base their arguments in, only Christians are married in the eyes of God.

Do Hindus have a Christian marriage? Do Muslims? What about atheists? No! None of these groups have Christian marriages... but no one stands out in a street protesting when two atheists go to get married, as long as they're of two different genders. Why is that? Why are people singling out this one group for persecution?

Because that's what this is. It's persecution. It's singling out one group of people and treating them poorly. Without any real reason, just because of a personal dislike for this group of people.

So tell me, why shouldn't homosexuals have all the same rights that I enjoy? What possible reason could we have for restricting their freedoms? Is there any real reason, or is it all just excuses for personal bigotry?