So, earlier this evening, a friend of mine sent me a link to this video:
Which piqued my curiousity, so I watched the original:
Which, unsurprisingly, made me angry. I wanted to do an eloquent, point-by-point rebuttal of their points, but I couldn't find the script online and I didn't think that watching the video enough times to transcribe it properly would be good for my blood pressure.
Fortunately, Keith Olbermann said basically what I want to say:
How does my right to marry whomever I choose hurt anyone? How does the expansion of rights take away anyone's rights? My faith teaches that all love should be honored and celebrated, so why does your faith get to be the one that defines marriage for everyone? How does saying that civil marriage has to be defined by civil law mean that a religious institution has to change the religious definition of marriage? There's already a difference! Gay couples get married in churches all the time. Plenty of clergy won't perform marriages that are otherwise legal under civil law, because the religious law they follow doesn't allow said marriage. The National Organization for Marriage says that it takes away their right to define marriage a certain way, and means that people are allowed to call them bigots. Guess what? I'm already allowed to call you a bigot, because a)the First Amendment says I am, and b) you are. Also, you can define marriage any darn way you want. You can define any word any darn way you want, though I wouldn't advise it, as it tends to make communication difficult. My marriage doesn't need your recognition to be valid, it only needs the government to recognize it. There are plenty of marriages I've seen and not approved of, but it's not my business.
You can teach your children whatever you want. Teach them that your god only wants people to have sex with their spouse (of the opposite sex!) in the dark in the missionary position with their eyes closed for the purposes of reproduction and will smite them down if they do it any other way. You're allowed. You're an idiot, but you're allowed. Teach them that homosexuality is wrong in the eyes of the god you believe in. Because that's not led to any suicides or anything. You don't have to teach your children to be tolerant and accepting if you don't want to. That's what I plan on teaching my kids, but hey, you know, whatever. I'll teach my kids that all men and women are brother and sisters and that "a wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men", you teach your kids that it's OK to tell people they're going to hell because of who they love. It's a free country, after all. But as Sondheim says, "be careful what you say, children will listen." Polls already show that as the next generation comes of age, support for same-sex marriage is growing, as is support for equality in general, so I'm actually not too worried.
Funny how once I start writing, I get on a roll. But oh, for a pen of fire, to match my muse.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
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