It's true that I have had a few gay friends, and maybe more of my friends were either gay and I just didn't know about it, or they were struggling with their own feelings and weren't sure themselves. But the reason I'm against California's Proposition 8, the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (it bans same-sex marriage, essentially), has nothing to do with my personal relationships... I simply don't get it. How, exactly is gay marriage supposed to hurt me, my marriage, or my country?
I'm a man very lucky to be married to a wonderful woman. Other people get married in other places all the time, and it doesn't impact me nor my marriage. If two people of the same gender love each other and want to marry each other, how will my marriage be affected? Am I supposed to say, “Dammit! If gay people are getting married, I'm disillusioned with the whole thing! Forget it!” That wouldn't make much sense, would it?
Besides, the “institution” of marriage is FAR from pure as blue flame anyway. If marriage were a divine, perfect union, each and every one directly ordained by heaven, would the divorce rates be so high? The divorce rate in the United States for first marriages is 41% (by the way, it's highest in the “red” states in “middle” America). The rates are much higher for second, and especially third marriages (and all of these divorces place a huge burden on the courts and therefore taxes). It seems that the “institution” of marriage is under attack by heterosexuals, not homosexuals.
But the biggest reason I'm against Proposition 8 is that gay marriage is none of my f#**%#& business. If two people love each other and want to be officially together, how is it my place to decide if I approve of that particular union? In the phrase “gay people”, there is a huge glaring keyword – “people”. Lots of people everywhere do things that I don't want to do and things I don't want to see. But if they are consenting adults making informed choices, then it's not my concern – period.
I have to admit, and I know that this makes me a bad guy in some people's eyes, that I don't like to see gay, let's call them “activities”. I'm not too crazy at all about seeing men act affectionately toward one another. I'm sorry, but it's a gut reaction that I can't control. But that feeling does not give me nor anyone else the right to say, “You can't do that.” Heck, I don't like mustard either. It kind of grosses me out. Does that mean that I should try to get a law passed that says other people can't eat mustard?
-Tom Rossi
-Tom Rossi
TB
Copyright Thrustblog, 2011
