Because Treating People Like 2nd Class Citizens is OK (in America)

Let me preface this by saying that the fact that we, as a society, do not allow any two people who love each other to marry and obtain equal rights and protection under the law is an affront. An affront.

That marriages of any kind are even an issue astounds me. We have two wars, economic crisis, crumbling infrastructure, foreign oil dependence, global warming, disease pandemics, and genocide, but some (primarily Christian) fundamentalists want to argue about whom gets to marry whom? Ridiculous. Gay marriage isn't an issue of right and wrong - it's a culture war meme strung up the flag pole every time a conservative wants to get elected by the inhabitants of Jesus-land. California's Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage (i.e. promote discrimination based on sexual orientation) is the perfect example of time and resources spent fighting about issues which literally do not matter.

I came across this earlier today:



(found here)

This video shows a mother, horrified at the mere notion of her daughter thinking that it is alright to marry another woman. Because the only thing worse than teaching your daughter acceptance is the chance that (heaven forfend!) she is a lesbian? Better vote 'yes' on 8, mom. (ed: Good thing we all know that good right-wing Christians are never ever homosexuals.)

If we allow gay marriage, then we are admitting that homosexuals are people too. Thus, we would have to teach that any two people who love one another and want to get married can do so, and that this is OK. Who is hurt by this? And how? "Traditional marriage" (the idea of marriage as traditional is laughable as it is; the nuclear family is not an age-old tradition) is not harmed; we're not forcing heterosexuals to have gay marriages, nor does it in some ephemeral way devalue the notion of a heterosexual marriage. All gay marriage does is allow gays to marry. It doesn't make children gay, it doesn't "promote" gay lifestyles (given how much persecution is inherent to homosexuality in our culture, who would, having weighed the pros and cons, "chose" to be gay?). Straight, gay, asexual; it does not matter. We are all people. We all have inalienable rights. The fact that only some people are allowed to legally marry cheapens the institution as a whole. Marriages for all, or marriages for none. Sorry bible-thumpers, hetero-normative privilege doesn't fly anymore.

Internets Was Yes is No on 8.