On same sex marriage

A few thoughts on same-sex marriage, following yesterday's vote in Maine:

So let's talk about the whole same-sex marriage thing. Let's stop and think about this for a few minutes, shall we? Because, really, what we're talking about is love. The right of one person to love another. And whether or not other people have the right to determine if that love is acceptable.

First of all, with so much hatred in the world and the terrible, awful things that we humans do to each other on a daily basis, do we really want to expend our energy on policing love, of all things? How about policing hatred for awhile and see how that goes first? Once we've wiped out hatred and abuse in this world (heck, maybe just in this country), then perhaps we'll have the leisure time to turn our attention to caring about who other people love and why.

But let's turn the tables for a second. If you are one of the people who think that same-sex couples should be denied marriage, let's play pretend. Let's pretend that YOU are the target and another group who call themselves the "Moral Majority" has decided that they have the right to decide how your life should go. That's right, people who don't know you and moreover, don't want to know you, those people are going to decide some really huge and important things for you. Such as whether or not you have the right to love the person you love. And they are going to go about defining the boundaries of the life you want to lead with that person.

Let's pretend that a group of people you've never met has decided that you shouldn't get to be married to your spouse. No, they don't know you. Nope, they'll never meet you or your beloved. But they want to tell you that you and your beloved are wrong. And that you shouldn't have the right to legally be committed to each other.

Doesn't feel so good, does it? But let's keep going. Let's say that all you want to do is live a life with the person you love and maybe even raise a family with them. But the Moral Majority says that because they don't agree with that, then you shouldn't get to do it. Because somehow, they have the right to make decisions for everyone else, based on what they believe.

This is where we're at. This is what yet another vote against same-sex marriage gets us. Now don't get me wrong - if you want to live your life a certain way, go for it. If the Bible is your own personal instruction manual, then that's great. More power to you - you should live your life according to how you feel it should be. But just because you believe something to be true, does that make it true? Does it make it true for someone else, independent of its truths for your own personal belief system?

The fact is, it doesn't.

In other words, if other people don't have the say over who YOU marry, then what the hell gives you the right to decide who *they* should marry? If they can't tell you what legal rights you should have in the boundaries of your marriage, where do you get off telling other people what rights you think THEY should have?

Seriously, this issue may seem complicated, but it really isn't. If you don't agree with same-sex marriage, then fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But think about it - do you really want to spend your time worrying about who other people love? Maybe if we all spent that time and energy focused on our own lives, our own marriages, our own families, then we'd see some true positive results in society. And maybe we'd realize that we all have the right to determine what is right for us...but not for other people.