Just Say No! (to Prop 8)

I realize that it has been a while, I've been busy! I'll post some new apartment updates in a bit but first, something serious and boring.

Since one of my friends decided to post her opinion on the subject it prompted me to write my own. There aren't a whole lot of things that go on politically that I have strong opinions about but my two real biggies are Gay Marriage and Abortion. One of those is a hot topic in the news right now (especially in CA), guess which one I'm writing about. Go on, guess. The following is totally un-researched, and is 100% my personal opinion on the subject. I have no real religious or legal education.

We are going to ignore my whiny, socially liberal tendencies and I'm not just going to sit here and talk about fairness and equality (thought it will come up a little bit), but instead I'd like to address one argument that I hear a lot. Gay Marriage should be outlawed because Marriage is a Religious Institution.

At one time marriage was a strictly religious institution but I would argue that it is no more. Marriages are licensed by the government, performed by government officials, and entered into by non-religious people. Married people are treated differently by the government; taxed differently and given different rights that include deciding the fate of their spouse. I would even argue that the fact that a law is needed to define Marriage makes marriage not a strictly religious institution. I don't see the government deciding who and when you can get baptized, confirmed, or bar & bat mitzvahed.

My second argument is that not all religions are opposed to gay marriage. I see a lot of rabbis performing same-sex marriages. Why does Christianity get to define marriage for all religions?

If religions would like to define what marriage is, then they should be petitioning the government to have marriage removed entirely from its vocabulary but as long as the Government is involved in Marriage, then everyone needs to be treated equally.

Ok, I'm done.