This piece’s original intention was to valiantly defend gay marriage. Then I realized that’s what its opponents are expecting. Like the rest of the Voice, I’m a liberal and a gay marriage supporter.
It doesn’t matter what you do in your bedroom, on the altar or in the streets as long as you’re not causing me physical harm. The arguments for this point range across civil rights, the founding fathers, second-class citizenry, the fact that the Bible isn’t the law of the land and gay marriage isn’t religious, the constitution, that old “my best friend is gay” chestnut.
The problem with all of these arguments is that they only appeal to people who think that individual liberty is a fine idea. If you don’t like individual liberty, or, in this case, recognition from the government that gays of all varieties deserve the same liberties as everybody else, I can’t convince you by arguing that as a country, the United States was virtually founded on the idea of gays gettin’ down. Political arguments don’t work on non-political people.
This debate isn’t about the state or laws or protecting families; it’s about disgust. If it was really about protecting marriage, then some compromise would have been worked out long ago, probably allowing gays to marry in exchange for drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. No matter what opponents of gay marriage may say about protecting the institution of marriage or the importance of a limited government, they’re united by a visceral repulsion to anal sex (sodomy!) and whatever else those LGBTQ folks get up to in their spare time.
What are gays honestly asking for when they ask for marriage? They want to file tax returns together and get tax breaks. They want to visit each other in hospitals. They want responsibility, and to take their place in society as members of a family. Conservatives should be eating this up-these are people who are just clamoring to join the ownership society. Before they know it, gay people will be asking for social security privatization and the flat tax.
Unfortunately, letting gays and lesbians join the ranks of the governmentally recognized means acknowledging that homosexuals and the activities (sodomy!) they engage in are OK by the government. The government already tacitly does this: Anti-sodomy laws have been overturned by the Supreme Court, only Constitutional amendments can prevent gay marriage from becoming law and many people tolerate or at least turn a blind eye to gay lifestyles. But when gays have the temerity to ask the government to come out and say that “Gay marriage is equivalent to heterosexual marriage,” it’s simply too much for conservatives.
So what am I going to tell the rest of the people in the U.S. who can’t handle the thought that other people might be doing things that offend their religion and their moral sense of repugnance?
Well, I don’t have too much to say-hope you’re not disappointed. Since their argument does not operate on the level of reason, any argument relying on logic isn’t going to change his thinking.
Instead, let’s leave it alone for a couple of decades. The fact of the matter is that among our generation, gay marriage has overwhelming support, and increased exposure to gay couples is increasing general public support for gay marriage. As we age and more people equate gays with those nice dudes down the block rather than some bizarre combination of Liberace and the Marquis de Sade, gay marriage will become more and more acceptable, if not popular. Although it will not be soon enough, gay marriage will eventually become a reality.
This isn’t to say it’s time to stop arguing in favor of gay marriage, but those who support it need to understand that there are some people who are so firmly entrenched in their beliefs that they simply can’t accept a reality that is in accord with principles they already hold dear. These people have every right, like it or not, to think this way, but they have no right to legislate such thoughts.
Rest assured that demographics are on my side, and as they say, you have to choose what side of history you’re on. I’m confident that I’m on the right side, looking forward to being the best man when my friends get married.
