gay/lesbian marriage

I think it’s kind of weird that I haven’t written officially about this yet. This is also my first post in a terribly long time, so I’m probably kind of shaky. Give me a bit to get used to this (again) =]

Anyway.

This is something that has never made sense to me, or at least when I actually began thinking about it. Why wouldn’t you let two people get married? I mean, for one, it’s hardly the government’s business except for tax purposes and what not. I have read the Bible verses that say being gay is wrong (several times actually, trying to make sense of it all) but despite that, and I know this is something that gets ignored a lot, but there actually  is such a thing as separation of church and state- and I take it to mean that just because the Bible or the Koran or whatnot says something is wrong, that doesn’t mean it’s illegal. Or vice-versa.

Another (kind of odd) argument that opponents of gay marriage throw out is “protecting the American family” like being gay is some kind of disease (and until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association said it was) and it will ruin your own marriage. But – shocker – Massachusetts, the only state to allow gay marriage (though, because of DOMA, it’s not recognized federally) had one of the lowest divorce rates in the country.

“As researchers have noted, the areas of the country where divorce rates are highest are also often the areas where many conservative Christians live.

“Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas, for example, voted overwhelmingly for constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage. But they had three of the highest divorce rates in 2003, according to figures from the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.

“The lowest divorce rates are largely in the blue states: the Northeast and the upper Midwest. And the state with the lowest divorce rate was Massachusetts, home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and same-sex marriage.”

— Pam Belluck, NY Times News Service, November 14, 2004

So if legally you can’t – or shouldn’t – use the Bible as a basis for a law, and if it’s been determined at least once that the allowance of gay marriage has no effect on everyone else, then why would you say no?

~ by skdunning on 8 May, 2009.