Truth
What is a bigot? Merriam-Webster defines it as "a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices".
If two women want to marry, who does it hurt?
If two men want to marry, why should we bother stopping them? What do "we" --those who have only loved the opposite sex-- have to gain from banning their entrance into our club?
The most prominent argument I have heard against same sex marriage is that it would "open the door", so to speak, for all kinds of outrageous abuses of this "sacred institution", such as polygamy, incest, and even bestiality.
There's no need for me dignify the bestiality claim by responding. As far as polygamy and incest in cases where all the parties involved are consenting adults, what the hell do these issues have to do with gay marriage? If polygamists and adults who want to marry their adult cousins start organizing and lobbying Congress, then they'll get a shot at some rights too, but this group barely even exists. It's certainly not an argument against gay marriage.
It's simple... there are enough gay people in the world and in this country to make it crystal clear that they are real people with real wants and needs, and they exist in prodigious numbers. Gay marriage WILL happen in this country. 100% of this country, I guarantee. Even if bigots like Bush and Governor Mitt Romney succeed in putting hundreds of stumbling blocks in its way, it will eventually prevail because these people are not going away. Polygamists and those with a lust for incest exist in absurdly small proportions and bringing them into the civil rights argument for a real class of people is just stupid. The fear people have over gay marriage, like most fear, is born from ignorance. The more homosexuals one gets to know the more they will realize gays are just like everyone else - some are great people and some are assholes, some dress fabulously while some look like garbage, but ALL of them deserve the same rights afforded to the rest of us, period. Those who think otherwise will eventually come around. It may take several generations as it has with other civil rights issues, but people will ultimately realize their resistance is the definition of bigotry.
posted by Smorgasbord @ 1:35 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hi Smorg!
I don't believe that anyone should have special rights and privileges based on marital status-straight or homosexual!
-Jack
I agree with that in principal. Americans wouldn't need to have this argument about who can and can't get married if there was no significance to marriage. The problem I see with trying to get rid of all marriage "privileges" is that it's not just the government who offers them. Married couples are seen as immediate family - the closest of close family - while homosexual couples, despite the length of time they may have been a couple, are seen as mere acquaintances.
"Marital status" is a variable that is taken into consideration in a multitude of industries for a multitude of reasons. I would support erasing marriage's significance in all those cases, but it would be nearly impossible to do. That's the problem. But maybe that's the only way to appease those who so vehemently insist on denying same sex couples these "privileges" - by taking them away from everyone. "I'm taking my ball and going home."
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