The Pursuit of Happiness

Gay marriage is now legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and New York.  In addition it's legal in Washington D.C. But why was it necessary for a court to make it legal in the first place? And why wasn't it already legal? Why do we even call it gay marriage?

We call it gay marriage because we’re discriminating against 4.3 percent of the population. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates this number is closer to 8.8 percent, because many homosexuals are afraid to disclose their sexuality to the census.

Also according to the census, certain minority populations have similar percentages, but if we called it non-white marriage there’d be riots in streets to protest blatant racism. I would be marching with them being of minority descent myself.

So why then is ok to call it gay marriage?

A few people told me the census argument doesn’t work because a person has no control over what race they are born but people choose their sexuality. I find that interesting because if people choose their sexuality does that mean the other 91.2 percent of the population chose to be heterosexual? The usual argument is heterosexual is natural, and if that’s true they certainly didn’t choose it.

I think eventually all 50 states will be forced by the federal government to stop the discrimination, but I don’t think it was ever really a legal argument to start with.

Dictionary.com lists the definition of marriage as a social institution of a man and a women or a similar institution between partners of the same gender. Webster and similar dictionaries list basically the same definition. That means marriage is a social institution and not a legal term, and in this country the largest influence on our social choices is our religious affiliation.

Eighty three percent of Americans claim to be affiliated with a religious domination, and the majority belongs to an Abrahamic religion such as Judaism, Christianity or Islam. All of these religions forbid homosexuality if you believe the strict interpretation.

But if we based our laws on our religious beliefs and strict interpretation of the bible:

The bible also demands a bride discovered not to be a virgin must be executed by stoning immediately. (Deuteronomy 22:13-21). It also says a married person who has sex with someone else’s husband or wife, should be stoned to death as well as the person he/she had sex with. (Deuteronomy 22:22). It forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman’s period. If they disobey, both will be executed. (Leviticus 18:19).

Remember… these are literal interpretations but you get my point.

All the Christians I have talked to have told me those passages just further illustrate the holiness of marriage and exactly why they feel gay marriages are an abomination. Christians get married in churches and not in the magistrate’s office because they are sealing their union in the eyes of god.

So Christian marriages are holy in the eyes of god?

Do spouses who admit to being homosexual after being married in a church stop being married in the eyes of god? Atheists get married in churches. The bible says the most unforgivable sin is to deny god and no one seems to have a problem with Atheists getting married and there certainly isn’t a law against it. We don’t call it Atheist marriage or Godless marriage.

Even if you believe homosexuality is a sin, the bible doesn’t ask you to judge your neighbor. In fact it instructs you to love your neighbor as if he were your brother or sister regardless of their sins. The bible says all sinners will be judged but not by society unless it is to keep good order.

To enforce good order we have laws and our laws were originally based on religious belief. Our money says in god we trust and we swear on a bible when we testify in court. It’s widely taught in public schools that our societal norms, which lead to the creation of our constitution, were based on a balance between religious influence and religious tolerance.

If you believe that than you must also believe that if the constitution demands equal treatment under the law to include homosexuals, gay marriage is a right and should be legal even if it goes against your religious beliefs which you are also entitled to.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I myself am uncomfortable with gay marriage, but I am more uncomfortable with discrimination, hatred, cruelty and bigotry. And isn’t marriage and the commitment between two people who love and respect each other a pursuit of happiness?