An "important" issue to many conservatives minds is the great debate on same-sex marriage. Now I am not here to bash anyone or any religion. I grew up Roman Catholic, and even went to a Catholic grade school and high school, but this issue has a deep meaning to me. When I came out, my sister was extremely mad at me because she had me as my niece's godfather. She even went to tell me how she wished she would of known before the baptism so she could of gotten someone better, and I should of known since where I went to school. On the religious side in school we were taught that being homosexual is not a sin. However, the act of homosexuality is. Other religions take a different stand on this subject saying that homosexuals in general (act or not) are an abomination and will go straight to hell. As a young homosexual male I find both these idea's with mixed emotions. In the Bible, Jesus Christ gives us the two greatest commandments: "Thy shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself." We are also instructed by Jesus Christ not to judge, with such stories as the Pharisees and the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. He said "Let he who among you without sin cast the first stone."
So explain to me first before I go into the whole same-sex marriage thought on how can these "Christian" people say that I, or anyone else who is homosexual, will go to hell, or even have the audacity to condemn something that I cannot handle. I am pretty sure that these people who are doing the condemning have committed a sin or two. We all have, we are human. For Christianity to be a loving and forgiving ideology it just seems to be a double standard. The Bible is law to these individuals, however this is a book that was written over a thousand years ago when several things were illegal and considered a sin. It was also written in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek and were translated and copied by hand several times before the invention of the printing press. Take into consideration trying to learn a new language or having a language barrier. There are words in the English language that are not in any other language, such as there are words in the Spanish language that we can't really put into an English phrase because its slang.
People use the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to refute the fact that homosexuality is a sin. If you look to the context of the passage (Romans 1:18-28) it talks about how these women and men left their instinct to be with the opposite sex to be with the same sex. This is not simply the case for homosexuals. DESPITE what many believe, we do not choose to be gay. Or at least I didn't choose to live a life of torment and judgement from others who have no idea about me other than the fact that I am attracted to the same sex.
Another passage used to put down homosexuals is Leviticus 18:22 "Thou should not lay with a man as another lays with a female, it is detestable." While this seems to be a key passage many conservative Christians use to defend their stance, you cannot simply look at one sentence in a passage. If you read the entire passage, the whole "rules" deals with adultery.
Now that we have a little bit of background on the whole Same-Sex/Religion argument, its time to tackle same-sex marriage.
Many of those people who oppose same-sex marriage use religious beliefs to support their stance. They use the reasons that marriage is for procreation, marriage is an institution between a man and woman, gay relationships are immoral and violate the sacred institute of marriage by God, marriage is to preserve the continuation of the species, they shouldn't have to alter heterosexuality marriage because that is the traditional marriage, churches would have to allow gays to get married, allowing gays to marry will cause a slippery-slope to incest, bestiality etc, even to the point of saying that if gay's want to get married all they have to do is become straight.
Like I said earlier, I am not here to bash anyone or any religion, however, if you feel bashed, I am sorry. You chose to read this blog. I am just exercising a RIGHT I have because I live in the free world.
To tackle a few statements right off the back. No, marriage is for UNITY and procreation. If you want to start a war on this, why not start a war of pre-marital sex and contraceptives as well. Do not just encompass same-sex marriage as something that does not allow for procreation. What about those individuals who get married and do not want kids? They sure aren't using their CIVIL RIGHT to procreate and preserve the species. The one thing the people are forgetting to mention is UNITY. Marriage is a union between two individuals. This union is to promote unity between the two and also families.
For NOM (National Organization of Marriage) who uses the idea of the slippery-slope to bestiality. All I have to say is really? o.O Come on, how idiotic do we have to get. I am not even sure how the correlation between the two comes about. So for those of you who read this, please give me some insight.
The rest of the view seem to lie on the fundamental idea of religion and God.
Going through school we are taught of the Revolutionary War and our Founding Fathers. Also, how they founded the USA under certain principles. One being separation of church and state. Under the First Amendment, it states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the FREE PRACTICE of it." This means that the government cannot make a church perform a same-sex marriage. Nor does it mean that it can make a religion accept same-sex marriage.
While some people believe same-sex relationships are immoral, to each their own. I don't tell you how immoral your relationship is while you're married and sleeping with your neighbor. I mean I know we are suppose to love our neighbor as our self, but come on, I believe that is taking the Word a little too literal.
This next one just gets me so frustrated. "If gay's want to get married, they should just become straight and have a heterosexual marriage." Yes, why don't we do that, and while I am having a heterosexual wedding, why don't you bend over so I can shove my foot up your ass. BEING GAY IS NOT A CHOICE. Why don't you choose to walk a mile in my shoes. CHOOSE TO BE GAY FOR A WEEK. If you don't think you can, how the hell do you expect me to choose to be straight for a life.
For those who think same-sex marriage is a "special" right. What is the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights about? I am pretty sure it is a base for equality. I am pretty sure there is no where in either document that states equal rights, unless you are gay. But then again, we had equal rights unless you are a woman, equal rights unless you are black. Isn't funny how history repeats itself, the subject might change, but the matter is usually always the same.
