manalang

I just read Eric Meyer’s general feelings about the results of the recent election (Behind The Beauty, Cracks Appear). Like lots of others, I was most shocked with the eleven states that decided to reject gay marriage. These Americans (including Bush) are trying to “protect” the institution of marriage. My question is what are they trying to protect it from?

Consider this — most marriages in America end in divorce. Certainly, the conservatives who want to “protect” marriage aren’t trying to protect it from that. How many times has Jennifer Lopez been married? And wasn’t Britney Spears married for just one day this year? This doesn’t happen with just the pop stars. I’m sure many people who voted against gay marriage have been divorced before.

Another thing, apparently somewhere in the Bible, marriage is defined to be between a man and a woman. I’m not saying I doubt this (I’m by no means a theology expert)… I’m sure the Bible does say that. However, where in the Koran does it say that? How about the Jewish Bible? Or some other religion’s holy scripture? The point is, if America is a pluralist nation tolerant of everyone’s beliefs, why would the government impose policies that force you to live your life a certain way? In fact, I’m beginning to think that the government should get out of the business of marrying people. The fact is, it’s generally accepted that two people in union are better than one. And so, the American government should bestow its citizens the right for two people to join in a civil union. But if you want to get married, in your traditional sense of what marriage is, go to a church or a place where you can have that deed bestowed upon you.

I understand that most of the citizens of the eleven states who decided to ban gay marriage may not have had much exposure or experience with gay couples before. I also understand that the first image that comes to mind when they think of gay people is often disturbing. And it’s probably because of this ignorance that these people decided to define the way gay Americans should live their life. This same ignorance and hypocrisy divided our country back in the civil rights days. Think of all the mixed race married couples you know and consider to be friends today. It wasn’t too long ago when mixed race couples were prevented by the government from marrying — 1967 to be exact:

“The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” (US Supreme Court: Loving v. Virginia, 1967. This was the ruling that allowed mixed-race marriages throughout the U.S.).

Ignorance and hypocrisy was the problem back then and it’s the same problem today. The point is, maybe the government should stop marrying people and start giving out civil unions instead. Marriage, as it’s performed today, is not always religious anyway. And so, why should religion impose on gay couples who want to join in union just so they can benefit in the same rights given to married heterosexual couples?

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 11th, 2004 at 12:37 AM PST and is tagged with politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.