Proposition 8
My Saturday morning workout was interrupted by two women canvasing the neighborhood to build support for California Proposition 8. Had I not been in the middle of my workout, I probably would have engaged them in a debate. Instead, I quickly told them I was not interested and returned to my workout.
However, since then it has always been in the back of my mind. “Why do people care so much about the definition of marriage?” If two people want to marry each other, how does it affect me or anyone else? If they are choosing to make a commitment to each other, should we not recognize it and afford them the same legal rights? Of course people will argue that homosexuality is morally reprehensible and against the teachings of (insert religion here). My response to that is there are plenty of heterosexual people and people of (insert religion here) religion performing morally reprehensible acts every day.
Let the churches proclaim what they may — for their own followers. A particular church may choose — for its congregation — to recognize marriage as only between a man and a woman and will not perform same-sex marriages. That is perfectly fine and within the rights of the church to uphold its beliefs within its own following; it is up to the followers to agree or disagree. We supposedly live in a society where there is a separation of Church and State. Therefore, religious views should have no bearing on whether two people who choose to be together can be legally recognized as a married couple and be afforded rights as each others’ spouses. A faith may choose not to see them as a married couple, but for legal purposes (taxation, contracts, etc.) a same-sex couple should be recognized and treated the same as man-woman couple.
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