Gay Marriage

If you know me, then you know that I am VERY passionate about equal rights for gays and lesbians. I'll fight tooth and nail until gay marriage is available to every gay and lesbian! Below is a bit I wrote about gay marriage a while back and I still like it.

Marriage might be derived from religious roots, however, that does not change the fact that I could go to a courthouse right now (assuming I wasn't already married) and get married without ever stepping foot into any church or having a minister present. To me that constitutes a legal institution. I think any church should have a right to not acknowledge any marriage they want or to deny anyone they want from getting married in/by their church. That is their right. I do not, however, see any reason why a gay marriage cannot be legally recognized. If they were to legalize "civil unions" that included all legal and economic rights that heterosexual married couples have right now, most gays and lesbians would probably be pretty happy. I think it's an insult and it's telling them they're not equals, but it's at least a step in the right direction.

Now, secondly, a lot of Christians I know see marriage as a Christian institution. They claim they are offended that they should have to "recognize" a gay marriage. By that line of logic does that mean those Christians should not be forced to recognize marriages between muslims, atheists, jews, buddhists, hindus, etc.? What if I feel morally offended at recognizing marriages between a woman and some piece of trash that beats her?

Overall, I don't see a fascination with what other people want to do with their lives. I, for one, have my own life and my own worries and if two consenting adults who love each other want to be bonded in matrimony, I have no problems with it. It's really not my business. They are people just like myself and all they want is to be happy and to spend time with the one they love.

Scary Facts

"Of the 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are now dead, he said. By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on permanent medical disability. More than a decade later, more than half (56 percent) who served in Gulf War I have permanent medical problems. The disability rate for veterans of the world wars of the last century was 5 percent, rising to 10 percent in Vietnam."


http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_death_toll.html

Election Time

I don't know about anyone else, but it's only June and I am already sick and tired of election year politics. I am sick of pretty much every aspect of it all, but I am especially sick of hearing about who is more "Christian." I don't care if the man is a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Pagan, Pastafarian, or whatever as long as they don't try to force their reilgion on me. I think a lot of Americans forget that this is a nation founded on religious freedom and tolerance. Another fact that seems to be under debate lately is the "separation of church and state." I've heard numerous conservatives say that there is nowhere in the US Constitution that creates a separation between the two and I disagree. I think the 1st amendment is pretty clear: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In my opinion, if we went ahead and made all laws and decisions based on Christianity, we would would be going against the Constitution. Therefore, the fact that Obama was born a Muslim or is now some super Christian is irrelevant to me.

I also have an entire rant about how I'm not a fan of either McCain or Obama, but I'll save it for next time.