I think it's amazing how "hot" people get about the thought of gay marriage.
I agree that if the vast majority of the taxpaying population are against giving benefits to gay couples, then they shouldn't get them. It's the taxpayers' money so they have a right to decide the issue through their elected representation.
But "protecting the family unit"? How is the family unit threatened by people who want to make a lifelong commitment to each other just because they are the same gender? Are people afraid that by granting legal legitimacy to gay marriages that suddenly all our kids will see it and say "I want some of that" and create their own "alternative family"?
I think that bigger threats to families are: Alcohol/drugs, the senseless materialism and greed that creates consumer debt while people are cold and hungry, the crap that is on television etc. By most people's "protection of the family unit" logic it's better to have alcholic verbally abusive parents with $35K in credit card debt who spend no time with their kids (or smack them around now and again) and don't do a **** thing for others than it is to have a loving, responsible gay family unit. My evidence for this statement is that I hear "conservative" family unit types consistently railing against homosexuals on TV etc, but you rarely hear them talking about the other things that are rotting out our society.
They take advantage of most people's completely natural aversion to homosexuality (I mean it IS gross if you are straight, right?) to get the bandwagon rolling and contribute to their own power over their congregations.
By the same token, these same conservative types use the Judeo/Christian value set as their justification for their stance against gay marriage. I guess that's an issue for the courts to decide, but I thought that USA was built on personal freedom as long as your not hurting somebody else. Our motto is "In God we Trust" - whomever your God happens to be. Unfortunately I think most people's God is money and their own pride...and that's why we have the problems that we do.
I'm no supporter of terrorism (my relative was killed on 9/11), but if people on the other side of the world are spun up enough to want to suicide bomb us, maybe we should take a look in the mirror before we "cast the first stone" (or cruise missle as the case may be).
[ January 22, 2004, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: Matt89 ]
