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Hello Freedomphiles!  Much has been said lately on the subject of gay marriage.  It seems everyone and their mother has an opinion on this.  John Kerry is dancing around the issue, supporting the stupid, wrongheaded Federal Marriage Amendment, while trying to appease the gay community with halfhearted support of vague, table-scrap “civil union” notions.  Like Ace Ventura, Senator Kerry is especially adept at talking out of his ass.

George Bush, on the other hand, is unequivocal in his hypocrisy, saying – with a complete lack of irony, mind you – that “America is a free society, which limits the role of government in the lives of our citizens. This commitment of freedom, however, does not require the redefinition of one of our most basic social institutions.”  [hypocrisy highlighting emphasis mine]

I’ve weighed in on this issue, exhaustively examining the philosophical, constitutional, religious, and even pragmatic framework of what I believe to be a fundamental right denied the gay community.  I’ve lamented the State even being involved in the business of defining and defending the sanctity – a word used almost exclusively in religious terms – of marriage.  If you are a religious person who supports the government’s involvement in this, you must come to terms right now with the fact that you have rendered unto Caesar what is rightfully God’s.

But in all this, I have left out one very important, and final reason why, if our government is going to be in the business of marriage, it must not discriminate against the gay community.  Get out your pens –  this will be on the test:

It is the right and decent thing to do.

Tell me, gay marriage opponents – how does this affect you at all?  There is no “institution of marriage.”  There are only individuals who are married, and each one defines their marriage in a different and nuanced way, unique to each as the loops and whorls of a fingerprint.  We allow them to do this, as this relationship is sacred, and even though some are unorthodox, or have the five-hour stamina of an Oops, I did it again wedlock, our government recognizes and sanctions those marriages.

Unless, of course, they happen to be of the same gender.

This makes no sense to me.  Would a world with gay marriage really be that bad?  Are they expecting forty years of darkness? Earthquakes, volcanoes, the dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, dogs and cats…living together – mass hysteria!   I’ve put more than a little thought into it, and I just can’t seem to grasp what is in peril here.

The peril I see in the right here and now is that, as a nation that proclaims all men are created equal, we are mired in the hypocrisy of a system that does not respect the personal non-violent choices of peaceful citizens.  We are all of us – gay, straight, or anything in between – under the malevolent eye of a judgmental and sanctimonious overseer, claiming to derive his power from our consent, pointing his finger at each of us and telling us whether or not our choices for lifelong companionship are valid.

Several of my best friends are gay – including my son Connor’s godfather and his surrogate grandmother – and they have no problem recognizing and respecting my marriage.  The choice of whom to spend your life with is deeply personal, and they don’t presume to judge that choice, or disregard its importance to me.

Why should I do it to them?

Why should any of us?

Until next time, make every day a good one!

 - Rick

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