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Homosexuality and Marriage - The Debate And The Write-OffMay 12 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line If two people love one another, why not let them get married?
It’s taken me long enough to join, but here’s my entry into lemon_lime’s write-off devoted to exploring the different reactions and views we all have on homosexuality, religion, and marriage. There are some rules to this write-off, so if you are interested, check them out here. ------ What are your spiritual beliefs or religious affiliations? That’s a tough one. I was born into the Catholic Church, but my parents never made me go through with all of the religious instruction involved in being a Catholic. I was never interested in organized religion and still am not that interested. I’ve dabbled in Wicca, but generally I think there’s a God – I’m not exactly sure how it all works, but there’s a God (or Gods) and occasionally it’s worth saying a prayer. The divine is all around us, we don’t need self-appointed preachers telling us what to do or how to find it. What is your sexual orientation? Queer as a three dollar bill. I’ve been gay for as long as I can remember. When I was very young I didn’t quite understand it, but I learned quickly I was attracted to members of the same sex. Don’t get me wrong, women are great, but there’s no sexual attraction there at all. How do you see your own religious/spiritual views as influencing your opinion of sexuality? I think a lot of gay and lesbian people feel abandoned by traditional religions. I was not at all interested in going somewhere to listen to people tell me how to interact with God. I’m not sure if that was because I was gay or just because I couldn’t be bothered with organized religion – I think it was probably a combination of both. How do you define marriage? Two people that are committed to one another. What thoughts or reactions do you have to these two pictures? 1. http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2004/03/10/ba_knight01.jpg 2. http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2004/02/13/ba_gaywed_01_lm.jpg I’m so glad that people who are so in love with one another can publicly commit to one another and proclaim that love. I mean look at the people in the photographs (especially the one of the two older women), these are people that love one another and everyone in the audience knows it. How does one of Christian faith reconcile these two pictures? Is one “right” and one “wrong”? What reactions do you have to seeing these signs? 1. http://www.sushiesque.com/photos/boston_common_031104/dscn1373.jpg I hope people like this enjoy hell… 2. http://www.sushiesque.com/photos/boston_common_031104/dscn1419.JPG I think this is more along the lines of what I would consider right. As one who could barely be considered Christian, I don’t consider myself the best judge in Christian character. However I would think that in the end love and understanding is a lot more important that hatred and bigotry. Why do you think the topic of homosexuality is so polarizing in religious communities? Religion seems to have become the last place where it is acceptable to hate and discriminate against what you don’t know. It doesn’t have to just be homosexuals, but someone who worships differently from you. Many of the organized religions seem uninterested in learning and growing from differences that exist within the human race and culture. Just think it took the Catholic Church 500 years to admit that Galileo wasn’t wrong after all. Should the government be in the business of defining marriage? Why or why not? Marriage is more than just saying “I love you” to each other. There are a huge amount of benefits that come from the governmental side of being married. These include visitation rights, wills, joint-ownership and more. Only through the governmental institution of marriage can all these special rights be conferred on a couple – otherwise marriage would merely be an affirmation of love, which plenty of people already do. Would you support the legalization of gay marriage? I would fight for the legalization of gay marriage – luckily in my State it already is legal. If you answered no, what are your fears behind its legalization? If you answered yes, what are your fears behind it remaining illegal? By preventing gay marriage you are condemning an entire section of the American public to inequality. Gay and Lesbian Americans deserve to be able to marry, if not to just enjoy the benefits that heterosexuals receive from marriage. Would you support government-sanctioned civil unions between homosexual couples? I’m not a stickler for names. I personally don’t care what we call it, but as a gay American I want to be able to enter into an official relationship with my partner that confers all the benefits that heterosexuals get when they get married. Call it gay marriage or civil unions, I don’t care. Do you see any way of bridging this current divide in our country over "wedge issues" like gay marriage or abortion? Or should we even be trying? Unless Jesus stopped by for coffee on Oprah and announced that homosexuality and abortion were okay, I don’t see any way that this divide can be bridged. It’s not so much a battle between wrong and right but it is a battle between the more secular America and a fundamentalist Christian America. What do you see America's view of homosexuality and gay marriage being in 100 years from today? What will those future Americans think of us in 2005, as they look back? I sure hope they look back and laugh at all the hub-bub that went up over gay marriage. I’m sure by 2105 gay people will get married every day just like straight people all over America and probably over a large part of the world. Final thoughts or ideas: Gay people are no different from anyone else and that’s what people will eventually see. We just want the rights that are given to everyone else and we want to live our lives and create our families in peace and freedom.  |
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