More Thoughts About Same Sex Marriage
I am particularly irked by the partisan pandering and provincial nature of this preposterous proposition. In short if I speak my mind it is a stupid fucking waste of time. It is an engagement in the worst kind of intolerance and mental masturbation.
I have heard many different arguments for why gay marriage should be banned and they have the same utility as a handkerchief being used as a colander.
The two primary positions that people seem to espouse as to why it shouldn’t happen are because of religious prohibitions and a claim of misguided values.
I am very troubled by the assault on the separation of church and state. It is a guiding principle and part of our makeup. We came to America because we fled the religious intolerance of other lands, not as Jew or Gentile, but as people. We came to America for hope and for freedom.
In my home and among the people I associate with these are not political slogans but the values that we try and live by. I read blogs and op-ed pieces that accuse Islam of living in the 4th century and of being completely misguided. I am hear to say that the same finger that points outward may be extended inwards as well.
As for the claim that by allowing gay marriage we are going to witness the destruction of the moral fabric of society, we’ll that is a load of horseshit too. I can go to CNN or ABC and find stories of normal married couples who beat their children. I can find stories of mentally ill mothers who throw their kids into the ocean, who cut off their arms and commit the worst imaginable acts.
Not a week goes by when I don’t read a story about how some child was horribly abused. Not a week goes by in which I thank G-d that my own children are safe and pray that they stay this way. There are readers of this blog who were beaten by their fathers. There are women who were molested and scarred forever by their fathers.
The opposition will come up with stories of perverse actions committed by gays. They’ll find stories about pedophiles and sex offenders who are gay or come from gay homes. The sad thing is that if I give in to this sick game I can find my own set of heterosexual horror stories. And that is because we are all human. We share the ability to commit tremendous acts of hate, horror and harm and we share the ability to engage in the most loving acts you can think of.
And even if we were to ban it. Even if a Constitutional amendment was passed it wouldn’t stop it. Love will find a way. History is replete with examples of lovers who could not and would not live without each other.
But that is not even a place to go because the reality is that all we are talking about are people. They are our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and our parents.
I lost an uncle to complications from AIDs. He was 49. He was a kind and loving man. He was a talented goldsmith. He had an infectious laugh. He traveled all over the world. He was my father’s younger brother and my grandfather’s youngest son.
I think that I may write about him in a separate post.
Bill June 12, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Oh another person that thinks Homosexuality is the cause of Aids.
And what the heck does ” Man and female he created them, to complement each other. This is not possible on a same sex relationship” mean.
I know dozens of gay couples that compliment each other completely.
We preach that God is love, but our hearts are full of hate.
If we are going to discuss same sex marriage maybe we should stick to facts not preachy rhetoric.
On either her Blog or in her comments she says nothing but asertions without the basis of her complaint. We are to assume she is some kind of expert. I could just as easy tell her that based on the Bible she has no right to preach (listen to Paul on women’s rights) than she has the right to tell gays they are unatural and can’t marry.
I think apologia needs to read some on Gay Christians and what they believe, but that wouldn’t work as it would poison her mind, the only book to read is the bible. I think your reading list might be as narrow as your mind.
Jack's Shack June 11, 2006 at 2:04 am
Apologia,
I just spoke to G-d and he said to stop spreading lies and blasphemy. You don’t know what you are talking about. You haven’t any more insight than anyone else does.
I can cite a million tales about people who contracted horrific disease. They were heterosexuals, good people who did nothing wrong and just got unlucky.
But based upon your definition you try to claim that they misused their bodies.
That is shameful. Your beliefs are divisive and wrong.
How do I know? Because G-d told me so.
Apologia June 10, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Man and female he created them, to complement each other. This is not possible on a same sex relationship, is unnatural. You can see the results when people used their bodies the wrong way, sickness. My heart goes out to those who suffer as a result of their assumption that what they do is right because they believe so. God made us,he knows his designs. He knows was best for us.
Bonnie B June 7, 2006 at 12:47 pm
Very well said
Jack's Shack June 7, 2006 at 3:02 am
Jim,
I ask those same question.
Seawitch,
That is it. Who am I to tell people who they can love.
Harrison,
All we can do is try to make sure that we are heard.
Stace,
Thanks.
Bill,
We are in agreement.
Mirty,
Hadn’t thought about that, but it is good enough for me.
Val,
If we don’t look out for each other no one else will.
Val June 6, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Thanks, Jack. Our cause needs more straight friends like you. I just might have to link to you, as you really made some great points.
and Mirty… it’s ALL about the symmetry!!! 🙂
Mirty June 6, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I like a wedding with two brides or two grooms. It has a nice symmetry.
Stacey June 6, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Perfectly stated, Bill.
Bill June 6, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Well said Jack.
I have many Gay friends. I refuse to see them as sickos or sinners.
We are all aware that most gays are born gay, it is not a choice.
Unlike the mental desire to sin, the urge to have sex is physical. So the attraction to others of the same sex is not a mental choice.
What sort of demented G-d would make a being in such a way that it would have to choose between a life of sin or a life of denial and repression of their own physical urges.
Imagine the hell this would be. That would mean that gays were born just so G-d could punish them.
The theological argument of the Christian fundamentalist right makes little or no sense.
Stacey June 6, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Wonderful post, Jack. If I hear Bush say one more time that “gay marriages undermine the institution of marriage” I will scream. (Of course he never provides details of how). What complete and total BULLSHIT!
I have gay friends who got married in Massachusetts when it became legal there and I am completely thrilled for them.
Harrison June 6, 2006 at 12:57 pm
The campaign of demonisation of gays is truly audacious and pretentious. The evangelists with their newfound clout in the Supreme Court and the White House think that by overturning laws, banning gay marriages and manipulating their influence through the press to proselytise such an exclusivist paradigm of thought, everyone who isn’t homosexual will be brainwashed into this type of blind zealotry.
How dare they attempt to impose their morals upon us, when it should be them who should question their own? Who gave them the authoritative power to dictate what we should believe in? Is this – to put it bluntly – religious pseudo-fascism at work? It is probably an exaggeration, but that’s what it feels like to me: an assault on the human capacity to choose what makes one contented.
jack, thanks for that impassioned prose. I applaud you for your embrace of the true human spirit of accomodation and acceptance.
seawitch June 6, 2006 at 11:36 am
jack,
I once was opposed to gay marriages. But then I got to thinking about how cruel it is.
As you pointed out love will find a way. Who are we to deny people the joy of being married becuase they are different?
jim June 6, 2006 at 8:09 am
Freedom, people, love, why is everyone against these things? What do they want, programed robots made of cold steel? What a world, hope it is changed soon.
You are a good writer, very expressive, it works.