Thoughts on Gay Marriage

I have a lot of thoughts bottled up that I've kind of been pouring out in rapid-fire succession over the past couple of days, which coincides with procrastinating for my English Paper. I don't even know why I thought of now to write this down (other than the procrastinating thing). Also, I'm listening to Reel Big Fish as I write this, which is literally the most happy-go-lucky music on the planet, so it'll be interesting for me to be angry while listening to it. But here goes...

While the issue of gay marriage has been unusually dormant over the past few weeks/months, the topic of whether to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been a hot topic. To anyone who knows it, it's probably no secret that idealistically, I'm on the far left. It's not a conscious choice; I don't merely believe the things I do to conform to the Democratic lifestyle, I feel that form of ideology is phony and counter productive. People who believe something to fit the Democrat/Republican belief system is a waste, but it is much more productive to choose your political affiliation after deciding what you belief. But I digress...

I'm not very politically minded, but I never understood how "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a debatable item. To me, it serves no discernible purpose. It seems more than logical to me to allow anyone who truly loves the country to join the armed forces and defend the cause he/she believes in.

I could never quite grasp what the hell bothered people about gays serving in the military, but to hear the ridiculous ignorance some people have towards gays serving is just mind boggling at times. And then to hear people like John McCain constantly contradicting himself is mortifying to me as someone who thinks the man should honor his past commitment to repealing it if he gets evidence that military members have no problem with allowing gays in the armed forces. I guess this is the topic that sprung this idea back in my head.

But I'll get back to gay marriage. The fact that the government is having to put up with so much resistance to repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" reminded me of the struggle with finally legalizing gay marriage and the ignorant resistant that is coming up against the cause. Simply put, I am for gay marriage. I see absolutely nothing wrong with allowing two people who love each other who don't fit the 'traditional' idea of marriage to be wed. More power to anyone who is truly committed to someone they love. It always saddens me how much opposition many heterosexuals put up to gay marriage. I am straight, and a gay getting married in no way affects me or anyone I know negatively. Why can't everyone have a chance to be happy.

I always hear the same reasons for why gays should not be allowed to marry. Perhaps the most used reason is the Bible. Yes, that Bible. The one written many, many, many years ago by people who may or may not have been insane about an all-powerful being that may or may not exist. But it's against gays getting married, so we should take their word for it. The Bible wasn't even written by God, so how we take its word so seriously surprises me. Furthermore, following the Bible, such an ancient book that took place in a world FAR different from our own, is ignorant. The world chances and we adapt to it. The Bible talks about stoning, yet do we stone people in America today? NO.

As humans, we believe in Progress. Slavery regrettably used to be legal in this country, but now it is no longer legal in this country, because we made progress. So why do we still not allow homosexuals to get married because that's what a really old book tells us is the right way to do things? Besides, there is such a thing as "seperation of Church and State", which means that the religion is separate from the law-making bodies that govern me. So furthermore, we're letting religion dictate this? Did I miss something?

Furthermore, it amazes me how much Republicans, who claim to love this country and what it stands for so much, would not want to see its biggest promise of equality used in full force. Allowing gays the right to marry is another way of offering another group of citizens of this country the opportunity to have freedom, and if anything Republicans love freedom so much that they should love this idea. We're merely hindering progress by being so close-minded.

My last point is this preposterous idea that legalizing homosexual marriage will somehow ruin the sanctity of marriage. Ah yes, so it has come down to this. We are worried about harming the sanctity of an institution that ends in divorce over half the time. People like Britney Spears have been married for 55 hours before getting a divorce. Yes, marriage is alive and well. Face it, the idea of true love has approached myth status. If anything, allowing gays to get married might, oh... I don't know... actually improve marriage. Maybe allowing two people who have fought so hard for the right to experience marriage will improve it. Fighting so hard for something makes it more precious when you achieve that satisfaction, no matter what the circumstances are. Maybe allowing gays to marriage will add some true love to marriage, or maybe it won't. But it can hardly hurt marriage any more than it has already been hurt.

Maybe I'm just naive, maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, or maybe I'm missing something. But to me, allowing gays to get married is a no-brainer. Who are we to deny someone the right to be happy because we are afraid to accept change and because we are only looking out for ourselves, not others. Then again, it's a puzzling world we live in...