I usually don't do politics in this journal, especially where politics and religion hit. However, I am firmly committed to fundamental human rights. This includes the right to privacy, the right to be left alone, and the right to chose your own religion, if any.
So when I saw this picture, I was thrilled. Two people, committed, loving, and together for over 50 years, finally getting the basic right to marry. Up until now, they have been prevented from doing so by a narrow interpretation of some people's religious beliefs that has been, most wrongly, codified into law by uncaring fools who are afraid of anything different, anyone different, and/or the fanatic religious lobby.
I want to ask now, for a drive to repeal the assinine "Defense of Marriage" amendment (Prop 22) that the chicken little religious fanatics pushed through in California. I want this state to take the lead in proving that "equal rights" are not "special rights". I want us to uphold the principals enshrined in the US Constitution: government independance from religion, equal treatment under the law for all persons, and freedom of religion.
You might ask, "why do you care, are you gay?" I care because any right to marry I may have is denied in this country to a subset of the population based solely on the sexual orientation. Now, people can come up with all sorts of straw men, and believe me, I've heard 'em all. But I don't buy it.
The fact is, marriage is, and for most of history has been, an economic institution, not a religious one. Yes, it has been sanctioned by religion, but primarily because religion and the state have been essentially one and the same! When you have government and religion separate, marriage must go with one of them, and because of the economic (tax, inheritance, joint contracts, power of attorney) issues involved, the government gets it. The church may be granted the license to perform the ceremony by the government, but a marriage can take place without any involvement by the church.
Of course, the Judeo/Christian/Islamic religious institutions are irritated by this - it lessens their power and influence. The more fanatical of them frame the issue as some sort of moral tragedy that will shake the foundations of reality itself, but they made the same whining and waling about mixed race marriages too, and before that mixed religion marriages.
So shut up with the outrage already - if you don't approve of gay marriage, don't marry someone of your own sex. What two other adults do is not your business, and there are worse things that they could be doing than declaring their love and commitment before witnesses.
Congratulations, Mrs. and Mrs. Lyon-Martin.
Posted by ljl at February 12, 2004 05:45 PM