Once again, a discussion with a friend prompted the following spiel. I can't believe I haven't blogged about this topic yet, to be honest about it.We as a society like to pat ourselves on the back for how we've improved race relations over the five decades or so since Martin Luther King, Jr. professed he had a dream. We commend ourselves for being so much more civilized and accepting than previous generations. But the truth is that we've really just moved on from one evil to another, and in most ways we're just as backward as we ever were.
Proof? Over seventy percent of all Kentuckians who voted on November 2nd, 2004, voted to develop an amendment to the state's constitution that would disallow the marriage of homosexuals within the state. It would also certify that the state could refuse to acknowledge any marriage between homosexuals made outside of the state - which is, itself, against federal law (any marriage ordained in one state must be legally observed in another).
Going into the voting booth that morning, I figured that voting against the measure was a lost cause, but I never began to imagine how large of a margin it would pass by. I was flabbergasted by the results and disappointed in the closed-mindedness of the voting populace. I had already came up with some theories as to why so many people supported the amendment, but I decided to put them to the test with a little survey of my own - at the time, I worked in a very busy convenience store, which gave me the perfect population sampling.
Here is my question (followed by the four most popular answers)...
"If you supported the amendment banning gay marriage, why?"
You know, I've never been able to figure out why certain people have problems with other people being able to enjoy the same rights and luxuries in life as they do. Which is what this entire thing boils down to: getting one over on a group of people. It didn't work on the blacks because they fought for their rights hard enough and for long enough that we just gave up on lynching them and handed them their equality. So, we moved on to another group that we could legally defecate on! And still can! God bless America and everyone in it, as long as they're not faggots, right? This leads me to the last and, dishearteningly, the most popular response...
Wait a minute! Isn't that what we're trying to do in Iraq? Turn a group of people into the thing they hate? Well, shit the bed! That means that it's not only acceptable, but almost patriotic, to mold things into what they don't want to be in order to fit the bill as a true-blue American.
Americans are always willing to try and make others fit their ideal of what someone should do and should be, yet they rarely ever fit that bill themselves. Seriously, let's all get past this whole gay rights thing, and remember that we shouldn't be hypocritical and try to lay down any standards that we aren't willing to hold ourselves up to.
Answer #1 - "It's morally wrong and a crime against God/Christianity/etc."
If you know me well enough, you know of my distaste at the tendency of some people to combine the two "G" words ("God" and "government") as if they somehow belong together; I believe they are on different sides of a very thick line and should remain where they are and should, under no circumstances, be combined. As such, whether you believe it's amoral and against God's will is your own business. You can have your God, and you can have your opinion. That is forever your right as a human. But in no way is it the government's role to lay down any legislation, let alone amend constitutions, banning anything found to be in disfavor with you or your God.
Answer #2 - "It destroys the sanctity of marriage" and/or "It makes the marriage of heterosexuals mean less."
This answer baffles me, because I can find no basis in its logic. I can name many things that destroys the so-called "sanctity" of marriage: over half of all marriages ending in divorce; people who get married because the woman's pregnant; marriage occurring because one of the two is well-off financially... I could go on. Notice I didn't include gays marrying on that list. You know why? Because it isn't an applicable answer.
Answer #3 - "They only want to get married so they can have their partner's benefits."
I don't know about you, but I completely enjoyed my parents' health benefits while I was a child. I'm sure other people, especially heterosexual spouses, enjoy partaking of the same types of benefits. And I'll bet the people who gave me this answer really like it.
You know, I've never been able to figure out why certain people have problems with other people being able to enjoy the same rights and luxuries in life as they do. Which is what this entire thing boils down to: getting one over on a group of people. It didn't work on the blacks because they fought for their rights hard enough and for long enough that we just gave up on lynching them and handed them their equality. So, we moved on to another group that we could legally defecate on! And still can! God bless America and everyone in it, as long as they're not faggots, right? This leads me to the last and, dishearteningly, the most popular response...
Answer #4 - "I hate fags!"
Well, I hate prejudiced bigots. I'd tell you all to go screw yourselves, but that'd make you bunch of "dicklicking queers", right? We can't have you becoming the thing you hate...
Wait a minute! Isn't that what we're trying to do in Iraq? Turn a group of people into the thing they hate? Well, shit the bed! That means that it's not only acceptable, but almost patriotic, to mold things into what they don't want to be in order to fit the bill as a true-blue American.
Americans are always willing to try and make others fit their ideal of what someone should do and should be, yet they rarely ever fit that bill themselves. Seriously, let's all get past this whole gay rights thing, and remember that we shouldn't be hypocritical and try to lay down any standards that we aren't willing to hold ourselves up to.
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