Article for those opposed to gay marriage

[Al_Capone_Junior]

This was sent to me by a friend, you know, one of those PURE EVIL women who like women, and who should therefore be chastized and cast out, etc etc etc. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

For the self-righteous: vow to quit meddling
By Beth Quinn Times
Herald-Record

We've all meddled, but this one takes the cake.



I was going to leave the gay marriage issue alone
just to save myself some grief.



But then I thought, what fun would that be?


Somebody's got to irritate the self-righteous folks
who tell the rest of us how to live,

and it might as well be me.


You know who you are, so get your writing implements
ready because you'll want to damn me to hell

by the time we're done here.



For me, there is one central question in the whole gay
marriage controversy:



What do you care?



What difference does it make in your own life

if two gays or lesbians get married?

It simply mystifies me that you feel
threatened by this.



What possible harm could it do in your personal,
little life whether the two guys living at the end
of your block say "I do"?

I keep hearing the same pat answer from
your prophets of doom -

that allowing homosexuals to marry will
"destroy the institution of marriage."

Well I gotta' tell you, a lot of gays and lesbians
have been getting married in San Francisco lately,

and so far my own institution of marriage is doing just fine.



I checked.

When I heard they were lining up for licenses,

I asked my husband if he felt our marriage
was going downhill on account of it.

He just ignored the question
and wanted to know what kind of perennials I thought
we should put in this spring.

I took that as a good sign.



Perennials are an investment in the future,

so I figure he's sticking around despite
what those homosexuals are doing.

So, self-righteous folks, I guess I'm wondering
what's wrong with
your own marriages that you feel so threatened by
another couple's happiness.



Are you unable to sustain a good sexual relationship,
knowing that two gay guys are sleeping together in
wedded bliss?

Are you unable to have an intimate conversation with
your spouse because
you're distracted by the notion of two women going

off on a honeymoon?
Because if your marriage is that unstable, you
should stop worrying about what others are doing

and tend to your own problems before
your divorce contributes to the decline of the
institution of marriage.



I've given this a lot of thought, and I've
completely failed to come
up with ways that gay marriage will have an impact
on your life. It won't raise your taxes.

It won't cause the kid who shovels your
driveway to quit.

It won't make your laundry dingy.
It won't alter the weather.

It won't cause your dog to start passing gas.

It won't affect your relationship with God.

It won't cause you to develop a
tumor on your head.

Those of you who would talk about grand concepts
like society and
institutions and pillars and guideposts and moral
fibers andwhatnot,

I say this is just your excuse for
meddling.

And history
has shown us that nothing good ever comes of
meddling in other people's affairs.

Every time Christians showed up to
mess with heathens; for example,

we just ended up with a lot
of unhappy heathens with syphilis and smallpox.

Those of you who would point
out that the dictionary definition of the word
"marriage" involves a man and a woman,

let me point out that the dictionary is a living,
breathing document that changes as word usage
changes.

If you doubt it, look up the word "dot" in a current edition.

We the people get to decide

what's in the dictionary. The dictionary
doesn't get to dictate our societal conventions.

Your hair isn't going to catch on
fire if the definition of marriage is eventually
changed to read, "two consenting adults" instead of

"man and woman."



As for the Bible, which is always the last refuge
for those of you who want to impose your will on us savages,

we're not all reading
out of the same book.



More fundamentally, the Bible is not a legal
document. If it were,

those who fail to love one another would be
rounded up and thrown in jail.

The prison budget would go through
the roof what with all the new cells we'd be needing
for the neighbor haters.



I have only this advice to offer those of you who
oppose gay marriage: Don't marry a homosexual.

If you're a man and you don't
want to marry another man,

for crying out loud,
stick to your guns!
That would be a terrible idea. You'd be miserable!
Same for women.
Marry someone of the opposite sex if that's your
personal preference.

After all, no one's got the right to meddle in your
private affairs.

[ZeeJustin]

In case I am ambiguous in any way, I'll make it clear now that I am ashamed of my country for being primarily against gay marraiges.

At the same time, I think this article is poorly written, and doesn't address some of the important issues.

The majority of Americans are against gay marriage, not because of some intelligent decision they have come to by weighing the pros and cons of the effects it will have on government. The average Joe simply thinks, "I hate faggots". The more benevolent (but equally ignorant) think, "if God believes queers go to hell, they don't deserve the same rights as me."

In my opinion, this all boils down to the same issues of civil liberties we have been dealing with since day 1. There's no difference in principle (of course there is a difference in magnitute) between advocating slavery and advocating a ban on gay marriage.

[ QUOTE ]
More fundamentally, the Bible is not a legal
document. If it were,

those who fail to love one another would be
rounded up and thrown in jail.


[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately, our constituion and many legal decisions have based their decisions on the morals outlined in the bible. I am completely for separation of church and state, and I find it sad that it's so hard to do.

I have always considered the majority of people far too dumb to make decisions that affect the government, so I guess I consider democracy a necessary evil. I still find it hard to believe that people still are against equality of all creeds to a degree this large.

[TylerD]

[ QUOTE ]
I have always considered the majority of people far too dumb to make decisions that affect the government

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah lets let the priviledged and intelligent govern & decide for everybody.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I think whether the article is poorly written or not is really irrelevant. The author made some good points, and it's purely a matter of opinion. Truly I think the biggest point made (tho not directly by the author) is that people butt into other people's business even when A) it's none of their business, and B) when it absolutely has no effect whatsoever on them one way or another.

It's sad, but the "moral majority" culture is really the "we're going to butt into your business no matter whether it's right or wrong in an attempt to force our opinions on you as a matter of law, no matter how friggin ignorant and/or stupid we may be."

al

[Al_Capone_Junior]

[ QUOTE ]
Quote:
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I have always considered the majority of people far too dumb to make decisions that affect the government


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Yeah lets let the priviledged and intelligent govern & decide for everybody.


[/ QUOTE ]

It's funny, but I agree with ZeeJustin on this particular point. However, your comment I do NOT disagree with. Paradoxical, aint it?

[Taxman]

This article correlates pretty closely with my own thoughts about the matter of gay marriage. If gay people getting married is wrong because it's a sin, then they'll surely go to hell (at least as far as all the fundamentalists are concerned), but that doesn't make your crap smell any better than theirs here in the real world. Last I checked everything is exactly the same as it was before all of these couples were wed except that a couple thousand people are happier than they were before.

[stripsqueez]

i think the article is spot on - i posted in this forum a week ago making the same point more humourously (at least i thought so)

where are the supporters of no gay marriage ? - i want to hear the arguments for this position - i'm told that a biggish majority of americans are against gay marriage yet either none of them look at this forum or they dont choose to share

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I must disagree slightly. Tho thousands are happier, it is very unfortunate that millions are actually somehow less happy because of the fact that thousands are happier. This says something about the pathetic state of affairs in the US.

al

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I think most of the posters on these forums are more liberal, thus they are less likely to give a sheeeeet about something this innane. This is purely a non-scientific observation on my part. But obviously it's not the type of issue to get the average 2+2er's feathers ruffled.

Now the topic of who killed christ, or the israelis / palestinians... well..........................

al

[CCass]

I am not, and never will be in favor of gay marriages. It goes against every moral teaching I have followed in my lifetime. My religious beliefs are that all gays will be eternally damned for their lifestyle.

Having said that, I must admit that the discussions here have caused me to rethink the legality of a ban on gay marriage. I am struggling with the possibility of "seperate but equal" civil unions, but our legal eagles have already determined that "seperate but equal" isn't really equal. So, where does that leave us?

My answer is that the goverment needs to get out of the marriage business (won't ever happen, liscensing fees are too good to pass up), and change the necessary laws that allow a person to recognize whomever they want (same sex or otherwize) as their life partner. This would afford all people, regardless of sexual preference, the same legal rights.

I want to thank all of the pro-gay marriage posters for helping me look at more than one side of the issue. What it comes down to, at least in my mind, is seperating my religious and moral beliefs from the legal issues.

Just my $.02 worth.