The true meaning of the word marriage is the blending or joining of two things.
Gay marriage isn’t about sex and religion. It’s about the legal rights of two human beings. It is the joining of two people in a legally binding contract that is recognized by the United States government that grants all the of the rights and benefits available under the legal title of marriage.
As the laws stand now, unmarried couples have no legal rights. There are civil unions in some states, but those fall short of granting full protection and rights.
With no binding law, if one of the partners becomes ill or dies, their partner is turned away. Medical decisions fall to families that probably don’t know the desires of the sick person. Everything that couple built is now torn apart because of antiquated laws.
For centuries, marriage has been a tool used to develop bonds for reasons other than love and holy matrimony. Daughters were possessions and were given to the most powerful men that their fathers could find. It wasn’t about personal choice, it was about building strong ties with other influential families, and producing heirs to carry on their names and build empires.
The arranged marriage had to be male and female to accomplish the goals of those families. We’ll never know how many homosexuals were forced into power marriages. How much sanctity is there in a marriage based on material benefits? The very religious factions that are fighting against gay marriage today have stood by throughout history and watched and blessed the joining of couples that were using marriage for prestige and status.
Many male/female marriages are only for convenience, duty to family or the protection of assets. Religions still stand by as aspirants to high political office marry in churches to form powerful alliances. Celebrities marry in churches to gain publicity, approval and the appearance of normalcy to further their careers. The participants in these marriages are using God for their own goals and making a mockery of a true spiritual union.
Today it appears that men and women can make their own choices, but they are expected to marry someone that will enhance the family status. There are homosexuals that feel they have to hide their true selves and are marrying straight people to fulfill the wishes of their families.
We have had centuries of religions controlling their followers with their restrictive views of marriage. Many religions do a tremendous amount of good in the world, but their survival, in their minds, is still based on holding onto their tight manmade rules. They try to impose their views on everyone in our society.
Do they think there are people waiting for approval so that they can become homosexual? From my experience, I would estimate two percent of gays are by choice. Homosexuality is a biologically natural creation of God.
How can you say that God created everything in the universe and it was good and then pick out one segment of this creation and say it is bad and defective? Homosexuality is natural throughout nature. Peter Boeckman of the University of Oslo has observed homosexuality in over 1,500 species. Dwarf chimpanzees are bisexual. Some male dolphins pair for life, pairs of male flamingos build nests, female flamingos put their eggs in the nest and the males raise the chicks.
The only species that has a problem with homosexuality is humans. Everything in the universe was created in harmony to balance and work together. It is my theory that homosexuality is the balancing piece in creation, not a blight to be scorned and abolished.
I believe that God has a sense of humor, but I find it doubtful that God made homosexuality normal in other species and made it bad for the human species. Maybe that’s the joke: only humans would waste so much time trying to prevent fellow humans from living the life that God created them to live.
To paraphrase John Bradshaw, “The highest form of arrogance a person can have is to declare that they are the most righteous.”
Today, religion is big business and fortunes are being made by church leaders that are feeding the ignorance they have fostered in their followers. They use their votes as weapons against political candidates. The candidates give in because their interest is in pursuing prestigious careers instead of standing up for the rights of all of our citizens.
I can only ask what Jesus would say about the hate that is being taught in God’s name?
Many homosexual heroes have died in our wars to protect our freedoms. Gays can be maimed or die for us, but they can’t marry. If you have a religion you believe in, practice it. If your religious denomination doesn’t want to participate in homosexual marriage ceremonies, they don’t have to. There are other denominations that welcome homosexuals and will perform gay marriages.
Whoopi Goldberg on “The View” said it best: “If you are against gay marriage, don’t marry a gay person.”
My best friend in Catholic grade school was a lesbian. We rode bikes and roller skated, just kids having fun. A good friend of ours in college was a gay man. My folk dance partner was the only gay man in the group. He was a great dancer and lots of fun. I am blessed and thankful to have homosexuals in my life. I now realize how hard life is for them.
I can only imagine how much emotional and psychological pain they must suffer as they try to live productive lives in a world that despises them.
Homosexuals are friends, family members, funny, sad and human just like the rest of us. They pay taxes, support charities and work in our communities, yet they are denied the legal contract of marriage.
Ann Sandt, Federal Way
