I was married once. Many bitter
divorcees would tell you, “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” Who are we to
deny same sex couples the same right to a lifetime of “ball and chain” misery? Seriously
though, all humor aside, why not? Because it’s unconstitutional? Ok, let’s just
whip out the constitution of the United States of America and show everyone the
section that states marriage is between a woman and a man so we can end this
debate right now. Oh, wait, there’s nothing in the constitution about marriage?
Hmmm… that’s weird.
One argument would be that we should
make an amendment and put it in the constitution. Well, there’s just one… or
really a few things wrong with that. Generally amendments are made to the
constitution to protect people. We can’t add an amendment that is literally designed
to oppress an entire group of people. We added the thirteenth amendment to
abolish slavery. We added the fifteenth amendment to ensure that people would
not be discriminated against because of color in regards to voting. We added
the nineteenth amendment to extend the right to vote to women. The list goes
on. After all of these steps forward, why on earth would we take a million
steps backward and add an amendment that would literally deny the rights of
certain people?
There are many other arguments out
there against gay marriage. Some would say that the Bible prohibits it. I’m
going to avoid the discussion on the different interpretations of what the
Bible says, but I will mention the fact that we are supposed to have a separation
of church and state. Whatever your beliefs are, that is not the issue. The
issue is that religion is not supposed to factor into our legislation. Another
aspect is that homosexuality has been somehow linked with things such as
incest, pedophilia and even bestiality. From a strictly legislative standpoint,
this is absolutely ridiculous. As a student pursuing a career in law enforcement,
one thing has been made very clear; it is about CONSENT. Pedophilia and
bestiality are (other than the moral conflict,) about one of the parties NOT
consenting to the activity. THAT is what makes them obscene and illegal. In my
opinion, you absolutely cannot compare these things as same sex couples are two
consenting adults. If all parties involved are consenting, then there is no one
that needs protection from it. There is no victim here, other than the people whose
rights are being oppressed.
To put a fun little spin on such a
heated topic, let’s add a little humor. Here is a link to a lovely video that
should put things into perspective. (Caution; contains explicit language) Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends