The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,

Francisco Goya, c. 1799

 

Americans are Waking Up

 

Can you feel it?  Can you hear it?  The wind of change is here.

    
     It feels good to be a part of an awakening.  To see equality spread and acceptance grow.  Public opinion has finally shifted and public policy will soon follow.  Another disgusting layer of exclusion and bigotry will soon be shed by the American government.  Marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is just around the corner.
 

 

 The Great Gay Debate

   The debate over gay marriage is often talked about on religious and moral terms.  Sentiments like these are the norm from many religious groups:

One side sees a moral mandate to liberate marriage from its heterosexual limitation. The other side sees natural marriage as a liberating, God-given institution for human flourishing. There is precious little shared ground in this debate. CP

There are obviously very strong emotions and beliefs surrounding the gay marriage debate.  But the fact of the matter is, religion and morality have no place in the debate at all.

     LBGT couples are asking the government to allow their unions to stand on equal ground with the unions of heterosexual couples.  They are not asking that religious institutions change their stance on homosexuality (although it would be nice if all religions got rid of exclusionary doctrine).  The fact is, it does not matter if religions ever accept their unions.  Religion is not a necessary ingredient in marriage.  As far as the government is concerned, if you qualify for a marriage license, no matter what your beliefs are, you may enter into the civil union of marriage and as a result of that union are granted certain rites and responsibilities.  Marriage has been a foundational institution from early to modern American society.  But not for moral or religious reasons. 

Early Americans' understanding of marriage was closely tied to their understanding of the state: both were seen as institutions which free individuals entered into voluntarily and thus could also exit voluntarily. The basis of marriage was not religion, but the wishes of free, consenting adults. Marriage: Religious Rite or Civil Rite?

 

Modern America: Marriage (also called matrimony or wedlock) is a social union or legal contract between people called spouses that establishes rights and obligations between the spouses, between the spouses and their children, and between the spouses and their in-laws.  The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged. Wiki

 

Marriage is a civil right that is not now and has never been dependent upon any one religion or even religion in general for its justification, existence, or perpetuation. Marriage exists because people desire it and the community, working through the government, helps ensure that married couples are able to do what they need to in order to survive. At no point is religion needed or necessarily relevant. Marriage: Religious Rite or Civil Rite?

     It is not necessary to debate this issue on moral or religious grounds at all.  Marriage is a civil institution first and foremost.  If you have a marriage license, in the eyes of the government you are married.  Whither or not that ceremony took place in a church, a temple, a mosque, a zoo, a forest, or under the ocean, is completely irrelevant to the federal or the state government.   Whither or not a marriage is between a man and a woman or a woman and a woman or a man and a man, should also be irrelevant.  If two consenting adults wish to take on the responsibilities associated with marriage, they should by all means also enjoy the benefits the government affords civil unions.  Those benefits, by the way, are pretty substantial.  (Check out this partial list...its pretty damn important!) 

     Society functions best when humans help one another and when we can hold individuals responsible to the commitments they make.  When two people commit to support each other, build a home together, and perhaps raise children together, it is in society's  best interest that we support them in their efforts.  And if either party decides to shirk their responsibilities, it benefits society and those individuals affected by such choices to be held accountable.  It is in our country's best interest to sail upon the wind of change now blowing through public opinion and finally give equal rights to all marriages. 

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 (If you still think your anti-gay marriage argument has a logical leg to stand on, here is some more food for thought...)