Thoughts on Prop 8

November 21. 2008

*I originally posted this with a video post of Keith Olbermann's Special comment in response to prop 8, because I thought it was so well said*

The problem as it seems to me is that many people don't view gay people as "being" gay in the same way that black people are black and women are women, but view them as simply making a "choice" on how to live their lives, and therefore don't seem to understand that preventing them from marrying each other is taking away their rights.

Also, a lot of people I know think that marriage is a religious institution, and not a social contract. My point to challenge this is that government releases marriage certificates, not churches, and that if it were a religious institution, then churches would directly control who they marry and when. Could two people from different religions marry? Would atheists and agnostics be able to marry? Could priests and ministers from one religion marry two people from another religion? There are many tax and legal implications with marriage. Would the government just blanket-approve every marriage a church reported? Would churches have to recognized as such by the government for their marriages to be recognized?

Marriage is something for everyone, not just those who are religious, and the religions (those who seem to be blocking gay marriage) should not be allowed to legislate their views. How anyone thinks it's their right to take away another's rights I'll never know, but I guess bossing others around is the American Way.