Saturday, November 7, 2009

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 083 (Know Your Friends)


I woke up this morning, logged onto facebook and saw that one of my friends, not a friend that I only know through facebook, but an actual friend from real life, voted on a facebook poll to say that he did not support same-sex marriage. This was a very upsetting thing for me to see so early in the morning, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. As we all know, this debate has been going on for some time, and I know that some of my friends are not as supportive as I would like them to be, but to actually put it out there for everyone to see that you are taking a stand against another person's rights just seems to be really extreme. Especially when you know that at least one of your friends is gay.

So, this led me to another thought. Can I still consider him a friend? He has taken the position that his opinion matters so much more than mine that he feels a need to impose it upon me. Because, his opinion actually does affect my life. My opinion, as much as he may disagree with it, has no bearing on his life whatsoever. It is physically impossible for me to impose my opinion upon his life; it just simply has nothing to do with him. Does he not realize what the impact of his opinion is? It's not just his opinion. It affects the people around him; it intrudes on their lives where his opinion simply does not belong.

What is the big deal anyway? So what if two men marry each other or if two women marry each other? Let's take the worst case scenario and condemn these people to hell. Does the fact that a same-sex couple got married affect his salvation in any way? Will God judge him for not oppressing the GLBT community? Is that the role of the church? What exactly does the other side get when they win? As far as I can tell, they don't lose anything if they "lose."

It makes me wonder if they think that by stopping same-sex marriage, they can stop same-sex relationships. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I've always said that you cannot legislate morality. Laws are there to protect people, not to teach them the difference between right andwrong. If an action does not infringe on the rights of another, and does not hurt the individual doing it, the law should not have an opinion on that action. I simply can't see any other way of arguing it. If someone can provide me with a reasonable, logical reason why same-sex couples should not be allowed to get married, please, please, please let me know. This issue just makes no sense to me at all, and even if I disagree with it, I would at least like to understand the other side. Right now, I just don't get it.

4 comments:

  1. I could always give you Brenda's phone number. I'm sure she'd just love to give you her explanation.

    But seriously, I think these people DO think that it impacts them. That by not speaking out they are doing something wrong. That being "complacent" about this that the world will fall into some sort of moral decay. Their children, previously straight, will now obviously think it's cool to be gay and it will spread like swine flu or like the fear of communism in the 50's.

    This is the new front for civil rights. Gay marrage is the new "separate but equal" arguement from the 60's. People hate it, not because it actually hurts them, but because of an irrational fear born of an ingrained training to loath that which is different.

    I just hope that society at large comes to realize it and that the issue doesn't regress. I think that awareness has increased over the past few years and attitudes are changing, but I have to say the Christian community is likely to be a strong hold out.

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  2. Yeah, but that's why God put me here, to stir the pot! LOL

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  3. As Teddy Roosevelt said, "Speak softly and carry a big spoon" :-P

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