Jimmays.com

Ok, so based on the title of this post, and these four cartoons, I’m sure you know I am going to tackle this completely hot-button topic of gay marriage. I’m willing to do this because I don’t think anyone reads my blog .

Seriously, though, I feel like I need to write this crap down, so at least I can sleep at night knowing my voice is out there, even if the noise is tremendous. I can’t make people listen to me, and I can’t make them even hear me, but I can type, so I will do that.

To get the obvious out of the way, I don’t think for one second, or one fraction of a second, that gay people should not be allowed to be married. Or, actually more to the point, I don’t think they should be treated any differently then straight people.

Here’s the issue I have from a philosophical perspective: why are we so tolerant as a society with people having different religious beliefs then ourselves (so long as our ‘different’ beliefs are not about flying planes into buildings at least), yet we are unable to allow people to behave in their own ways when it does not affect any person’s fundamental right to life, liberty, and property?

Last I checked, those are the ‘Big 3′ things that matter when it comes to laws. Mainly if you infringe on someone else’s life, liberty, or property, then that action is illegal.

That’s all fine and good, but since when did two gay people getting married infringe on that? Ever? I don’t think so. The way I see it, every single person who is against gay marriage has some personal reason why they think it is ‘wrong.’ I have not seen a single valid reason as to why it’s wrong otherwise.

The most convincing argument I have heard has been about the kids and what they learn in school. Parents don’t want their kids learning about people being allowed to marry someone that is the same sex as them. These parents are ‘outraged’ that their innocent 2nd-grade kids learn this stuff.

Here’s the problem I have: why the hell are the parents not outraged that the topic of marriage comes up at that age in the first place? Are these parents really in the mood to get their kids thinking about marriage that young, so long as it follows their own moral standards?

I don’t know why schools talk about this stuff at all, ever. There is enough time in the day for the most important teachers in the world (the, um, PARENTS) to teach this stuff to their kids. No school should tackle the subject at all, gay or straight.

So if anyone should be outraged about something, it should be about marriage being talked openly to kids at that age in general, let alone the specifics.

That makes me secure in feeling that anyone who uses the veil of the kids learning crap the parents don’t want them to learn, is a shoddy excuse at BEST.

Basically I keep coming back to the same thing: gay marriage hurts no one. Everyone loves the idea of separation of church and state, as do I, yet people have one hell of a time understanding what that means.

The separation basically means societies’ ideals are secondary to what is fair. Some religions may not want men and women to ever speak to one another, but no way will a law exist that will allow that to happen, because that is not fair. The fairness wins out, always (or at least is supposed to) over what some people want.

No one is campaigning for a law to exist that disallows women and men from speaking to each other because it is absurd. No one thinks it is right, because it’s not.

So whether you think gay people should be allowed to get married or not is irrelevant. The real issue is that some people can get married, and some people can’t.

This isn’t about taking some test, like a driving exam, and it isn’t like getting a fishing license. This about immediately being disqualified from a civil contract simply because of who you are in relation to the other party.

The bottom line for me is people should not be treated differently. I have no issue with people thinking gay marriage is wrong. I don’t have a problem with that line of thinking. I have a problem, though, with that fundamental majority opinion being expressed as law.

No matter how you slice it, this is discrimination. You can argue about it until you are blue in the face, but it is discrimination. No getting around it.

There are two things you can do about it. First, if you feel so strongly about it, ban marriage as a whole. For the purposes of law, ban marriage. Keep it in your own church. No one will care, because you get married based on you loving this other person to death, right? Not for the tax benefits, right?

So under the law you shouldn’t care too much if NO ONE could get married. Yet, if you DO care about the tax benefits, and benefits of the sharing of money, and power of attorney and all that other fine stuff, well then legalize it for everyone, and call it something else!

Second, call all traditional marriages ‘civil unions’ and all gay ‘marriages’ as ‘civil unions’ too. That way everyone is on equal ground legally, and everyone who thinks the word ‘marriage’ is too special to share can sleep at night too.

It’s sad that it might require that to legalize same-sex marriage, but whatever. If that’s what it would take to make everything equal, then I’m for it.

These are just my philosophical beliefs. But I feel that laws have already been written that make banning same-sex marriage illegal.

Essentially I think all those civil-rights movements just might have been enough to apply to this kind of discrimination too. I know that there were civil rights movements to allow women to vote, and to allow black people to vote, and basically to allow black people to do anything white people could, and in the process, I think they left things open-ended enough to make banning same-sex marriage illegal.

Obviously, this has been tough to prove, as it has been damn near impossible to legalize it. But here are a few points I think support my position.

The Fourteenth Amendment:

More specifically: the Equal Protection Clause. I don’t understand how banning same-sex marriage does not violate this fundamental part of the Fourteenth Amendment. Granted, it doesn’t say “gay marriage is legal”, but how is banning two same-sex people from entering a simple contract ‘equal protection’? This is not equal protection! It is no more equal then banning inter-racial marriage!

Come on, America, wake up! This is sheer stupidity, and just wrong. Like I said, I don’t blame people for not liking gay marriage, and I don’t blame people for wanting to avoid it. I’d prefer complete tolerance, but some people are just inherently intolerant. It’s sad to see, but whatever.

We can do better then this. We can be fair about this. Banning gay marriage is wrong on so many levels, it’s just stupefying. I still can’t see how legalizing gay marriage negatively impacts kids or anyone for that matter in any way that can’t be corrected by other means.

As for the kids in school example: like I said, don’t talk about marriage at all and you’re all set, no worries. There are far scarier things out there then gay people, and it’s time we let gay people have their peace.

If you are truly a good and noble person, as I think all religions demand of their followers, allow gay people peace of mind and soul. Let God deal with them when they get in heaven. We humans are in no position to prohibit certain people from marrying people. Let God deal with them.

I, for one, won’t do this, for reasons that I could write a whole article about separately, but it’s the right thing to do.

We are America. We are better then this. Let’s show it.