I was curious as to what people thought about having the right to marry someone of the same gender. Hence the little poll to the right of this blog which you can vote in if you wish. It really isn’t all that scientific or anything but its interesting to note that there are some who are unsure. Others who are opposed as well.
Which brings me up to why I believe in it, and also why I am married to Dave.
Sure there is the economic considerations to take into account. I mean you get a tax credit to begin with which is nice. You also are eligible for the survivor benefits should death come knocking too. As a couple there is a lower BC Medical premium as well. So yeah there are plenty of economic reasons why Gays should consider marraige and why that ability should be given to all citizens of a country.
This just isn’t about religion.
Being married doesn’t give you special admission to Heaven or to any Church either. In fact most will reject you simply because you are Gay, never mind being married to one.
Having this ability also doesn’t mean that the Priest in the fancy cathedral HAS to perform your ceremony either. Nor does it force any PASTOR, RABBI, or IMMAN to grant you God’s Blessings if they don’t wish to.
Two guys being married will NOT change how some straight guy makes out with his female partner. Nor will it alter how many kids are born to neglectful abusing parents either. It won’t change the population growth or lack of it either.
It will however give someone who loves you very much the right to know what is wrong with you if you get rushed to a hospital, no matter what.
It does mean that family who you have not seen in decades have NO SAY in your medical treatment or in dividing up your estate should you pass on. It doesn’t revert to the state either if you don’t have a will, but will go to the person you shared your life with.
It won’t cure AIDS or make people more mindful of the Ten Commandments, though so far Gay divorce in countries that have same sex marraige are seing less than a 5% rate while the straight community tops 60% in many countries. Odd isn’t it?
I suppose part of that is due to the fact that maybe you respect something more when you have to literally fight for it. Straights have never had to fight for that right, which perhaps is one reason why over half have little if any respect for it at all.
Then there is the intangible reasons.
Funny how a single piece of paper can mean the difference between life and death or intolerance and acceptance. Thing is though, a marraige license is just that a piece of paper. Yet it has almost magical powers for some.
Consider that with all the news about gay bashings, about political candidates equating homosexual groups with pandering to pedophiles, what that piece of paper could mean to an impressionable teenager.
Think of them for a second. Think about how they trudge off to today’s schools and listen to all the bullshit from the homophobes like teachers and parents groups. Imagine how depressed they must feel or worse how shameful they begin to feel when everyone around them tells them they are second class and unworthy of equal rights. Imagine how the bullies tease them endlessly not because they have a deformidy or skin color difference either, but because they like other guys.
Look at the language and all the slang words for them. Fudge Packer, Pufter, Fag, Corn Holer, Cock Sucker, and on the list goes. Imagine how they feel and then imagine how they feel when their own government, sworn to protect all minorities, goes out of its way to further their second class status.
That is what is happening in the United States now, yet look at countries where the governments have done the right thing. Look up here to Canada where no matter how bad it is in school for these kids, least they can point to that piece of paper and KNOW they aren’t second class. Least they can see that they have nothing to feel ashamed of because their own Government has said they are equal and shown it in more than words. Their own Government has shown in with a simple piece of paper, something called a marraige license.
No it won’t stop the hatred or the ridicule but it does at least give them something to fight back with.
It Gives Them Hope for Tomorrow.