Thoughts on Gay Marriage

[TDAS04]

There is no rational argument against it. Opponents complain about the "bigot" label, but obviously opposition to SSM is based an erroneous bias against gay people.  A stupid argument is that disliking gays is OK while disliking blacks is bad, since opposition to homosexuality is supported by "legitimate religious values".  Actually, people can use religious scripture to justify racism or anything else as well.  Homosexuality does not threaten people or society.  People have the right to oppose it personally, and no one is going to force churches to teach that gay marriage is OK, but trying to impose scripture-based hateful values on neighbors they don't even know is repulsive.

Are all opponents of SSM bigots?  I suppose that most SSM-opponents are not exactly like the virulent segregationists of the Jim Crow South, since most SSM-opponents (at least in the US) don't condone violence against gays.  Some people who may oppose SSM are still willing to be friends with me, regardless of my orientation.  They are not bad people overall; we are all probably guilty of mild bigotry at one point or another.

However, opposition to gay marriage is very difficult to respect at all.  It's not like holding different views on economic issues or even abortion (you can actually say abortion harms someone).  Trying to stop the right of gays to get married is rooted in nothing but the belief that gays are so inferior to straights that society's laws must put gays "in their place".  Sorry, but that's bigotry.

I would like to stay single myself, but that should not be for the government to decide.  Society has no business declaring that straights are superior to me.

Not all people who vote to ban gay marriage are bad people on balance, but when people vote for these bans, they are at least oblivious to the fact that passing these bans results the following message from society to struggling, bullied LGBT youth:  

"You're gay, you're not normal, there is something wrong with you, your classmates should not be nice to you, you're not worth it."

This is often the message heard by gays thinking about suicide.