The Undeclared War On Gay Marriage

(by Chris Masterson)

What is so important about gay marriage? The only views that should matter are those of homosexual couples who want to legally wed. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that particular ideal world. Even though they should have no feelings at all regarding an issue that does not concern them, heterosexuals have mixed feelings. There are those who don’t care one way or another but religious advocates have started a civil war on the civil rights of gay Americans!

A Civil War On Civil Rights?
For reasons unrevealed at the moment, religious advocates have invested a great deal of time, effort, energy and resources into preventing the legalization of gay marriage. But has anyone ever stopped to ask, "Why is preventing the legalization of gay marriage so important?" To date, the only rational explanation I have heard is the view, “They make me feel uncomfortable. I don’t want to see two guys being intimate in public.” But for some reason, I have never heard that reasoning directed towards two women. Incidentally, the sight of Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses out in public make a whole lot of people feel uncomfortable. Just saying.

Interestingly enough, Lesbian couples often experience heterosexual guys drooling over them while verbalizing manage tois fantasies. Now let me get this straight [no pun intended], it’s OK for homosexuals to satisfy heterosexual sex fantasies (and entertain us in all sorts of ways on TV and in movies) but it’s NOT OK for them to legally wed? Gay marriage aside, this sounds like EXPLOITATION to me! And the view that homosexuality is an abomination is not even relevant. Is heterosexual prostitution and adultery any less of an abomination? Yet theoretically, an adulterer can legally wed a prostitute simply because they're both heterosexual. In addition, (heterosexual) murderers can get married while serving a life-sentence in prison! Am I beginning to hear the words, DOUBLE STANDARD?

It's A Smoke Screen
For the sake of argument, consider the view intimate homosexuals make homophobes uncomfortable. SO WHAT? And that’s the real problem. They need a bigger reason than that! This is why homophobes transform gay marriage into a religious matter. And they all of a sudden become devout Christians and pretend God is a bigot too. Even though the Bible says nothing about marriage (i.e. who can or who cannot). Organizations like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, (i.e. Mormons) will do practically anything, including lie, cheat and deceive, to get their way. But its OK when they do it to further their religious agenda. Everyone else will burn hell ... or some unpleasant fate. The civil rights of homosexuals are non-existent and a civil war must be waged without anyone noticing. And to make matters worse, there are more homosexuals in the world than there are Mormons! Don’t believe the small percentages biased people quote from biased surveys based on faulty data!

Traditional Definitions
I’ve heard the view, “We must protect the traditional definition of marriage!” In other words, legalizing gay marriage would some how taint said definition. Do we speak ENGLISH in the United States? Plan-B is a civil war with words! Can you name one English word that has not undergone a series of definition changes over the last 400 years? Why does the word “marriage” all of a sudden need protecting? Is that even a civil right? As a matter of fact, this particular word has already undergone a few dozen changes! Why? Because marriage is not exclusively a religious matter. Ergo, you have to be a little more specific when you say, “traditional.” The following are a few of those traditions of marriage:

Civil (a wedding performed by a government official);
Common Law (a verbal agreement to become husband and wife);
Monogamy (the state of having one sexual partner at a time);
Polygamy (a person has more than one spouse; consent);
-Polygyny (husband has several wives);
-Polyandry (wife has several husbands);
Bigamy (a person has more than one spouse; non-consent);
Arranged (two families decide; a son and daughter from each will wed);
Child (an adult legally weds a child under age 15);
Morganatic (no inheritance to wife and children);
Hypergyny (a spouse with a higher social status);
Sogyny (a spouse with same status);
Open (spouses consent to sexual relationships outside marriage);
Henogamy (one male-child in family can marry);
Line (adding a new spouse in time, down the line);
Trial (couple lives together temporarily to see how it goes)!

And the list goes on and on and on! Even though many of these types of marriages are not legal in the United States, my point is over the course of time, heterosexuals have re-defined "marriage" so many times it ain’t even funny! What difference would adding “gay marriage” to this very long list of traditions really make? The truth of the matter; heterosexuals can do whatever comes to mind when it comes to this holy matrimony.

The Sanctity of Divorce
I have also heard the view; “We have to protect the sanctity of marriage!” In all honesty, if you wanted to do that, you would invest all of that time, effort, energy and resources into challenging the sanctity of divorce! Gay marriage has very little to do with it! Religious views aside, according to The State of Our Unions 2005 (a report issued by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University [2006-9 available online]), 37% of American children grow up with exclusively one parent due to divorce. In new situations where parents had joint-custody in 2005, 44% of custodial mothers and 56% of custodial fathers were either separated or divorced. And there were only 1,080,000 divorces that year. But they were not necessarily half of the 2,250,000 weddings that took place the same year. This divorce rate is comprised of marriages from previous years that ended in 2005, as well as marriages from that same year. So why start a civil war on the civil rights of homosexuals?

Here's something else to think about. Remember back in the "Leave It To Beaver" days when pornography was seriously underground, child pornography was nonexistent and a divorce was considered classified information? Yes, divorcees were shamed by society. For those of you who were not yet born, once upon a time, people who got divorced were ashamed for their family, friends, neighbors and especially work peers to find out. It was considered a very shameful act to break the vows you made before God. Most people who wanted a divorce at least stayed married until their children were old enough to leave home; then they divorced in secret. Do people today have that same attitude? Dam the children these days! My point is, if society as a whole can change its attitude about pornography (now a multi-billion dollar a year industry) and divorce, the same can happen with gay marriage.

The view hypothetical; if 1,080,000 out of 2,250,000 ended in divorce in 2005, that divorce rate would be 48%. This is why the speculated divorce rate averages 50%. And that count does not include all the legal separations. However, in all probability 20% (450,000) of those 2,250,000 marriages will end in divorce within 5-years; and 50% within 10-years. Bottom line; the holy matrimony homophobic heterosexuals claim they want to protect so bad is primarily endangered by heterosexual marriage … not gay marriage! Ergo, marriage in the United States among heterosexuals is not as pretty a picture as anti-gay marriage advocates purport. In all probability, no more than 10% of (heterosexual) marriages in the United States will last a lifetime. So, why do anti-gay advocates (religious or otherwise) insist on fighting a civil war on the civil rights of American citizens who just happen to be gay?

To Be Continued ... gay marriage

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DivorceRate: The resource for providing information on the divorce rate in America and around the world.

Homophobia: The Fear Behind the Hatred: An Essay by Scot Bidstrup. In 1994, during the campaign of Oliver North for the U.S. Senate, there were several of his supporters seen carrying signs along a Virginia freeway that read, "Homophobia Doesn't Kill." By announcing that belief, they were exposing their ignorance to the world, because homophobia does kill, and it kills with surprising frequency.