Are you ready for the controversy? Here goes: gay marriage. I’m hoping I won’t alienate all four and a half readers we have; mostly just the half, that kind of weirds me out.
Back to gay marriage. If you have read any of my previous pieces, you know I am not what one would call liberal or progressive in the political sense of the words. You also know that I’m not exactly a member of the religious majority, particularly here in the heart of the Bible belt and Falwell-land. So, I am – for the most part – politically right winged, a very religious non-Christian person with a strong background in the Bible and a childhood spent in the bosom of the Christian church; what could I possibly think about gay marriage? It’s simple, as far as I’m concerned: let ‘em do it.
Now, I do maintain a couple “conditions”. For one, don’t call it marriage, marriage is a religious institution created by religion, for religion, and, in this country whose cultural norms are largely based in Christian tradition, consisting of one man and one woman (what? A pagan defending traditional marriage?!) That being said, the government does not and should not ever have the right to tell you who you can love or with whom and the manner in which you can copulate (within the law, of course; I still don’t at all condone rape or pedophilia, but that’s a topic for another day). My solution for the government is this: let gay couples enjoy the tax breaks, benefits, insurance, etc. of a traditional married couple, call it a “civil union” or something of that manner, stop trying to legislate the harmless parts of morality, and stay the fuck our of our private lives. We all have the right to pursue happiness as stated in the Declaration of Independence, and as long as that pursuit doesn’t harm or infringe on the rights of others, then the government shouldn’t have a damn word to say about it.
Back to gay marriage. If you have read any of my previous pieces, you know I am not what one would call liberal or progressive in the political sense of the words. You also know that I’m not exactly a member of the religious majority, particularly here in the heart of the Bible belt and Falwell-land. So, I am – for the most part – politically right winged, a very religious non-Christian person with a strong background in the Bible and a childhood spent in the bosom of the Christian church; what could I possibly think about gay marriage? It’s simple, as far as I’m concerned: let ‘em do it.
Now, I do maintain a couple “conditions”. For one, don’t call it marriage, marriage is a religious institution created by religion, for religion, and, in this country whose cultural norms are largely based in Christian tradition, consisting of one man and one woman (what? A pagan defending traditional marriage?!) That being said, the government does not and should not ever have the right to tell you who you can love or with whom and the manner in which you can copulate (within the law, of course; I still don’t at all condone rape or pedophilia, but that’s a topic for another day). My solution for the government is this: let gay couples enjoy the tax breaks, benefits, insurance, etc. of a traditional married couple, call it a “civil union” or something of that manner, stop trying to legislate the harmless parts of morality, and stay the fuck our of our private lives. We all have the right to pursue happiness as stated in the Declaration of Independence, and as long as that pursuit doesn’t harm or infringe on the rights of others, then the government shouldn’t have a damn word to say about it.
-Sam
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