This week, the Supreme Court for the commonwealth of Massachusetts ruled that there was no constitutional basis for denying same-sex couples their marriage licences. This ruling has rekindled a firestorm of controversy over the rights of gay couples and the sanctity of marriage, and it's bringing all kinds of loudmouths out of the woodworks.
I don't normally write rants about subjects of any real significance. Mostly I just whine about video game-related things that irk me. But I'm going to make an exception here because I'm tired of keeping my mouth shut. I can't take it anymore. I have to say something to everybody who's raising a stink right now about the court's decision:
"SO WHAT?!"
Of course denying same-sex couples their marriage licence is unconstitutional! ! It's called "seperation of church and state," and guess what? It's in the constitution! If a church refuses to recognize the marriage of a gay couple, they're a private organization and they're entirely within their rights to do that. But the government has no right denying them the same legal priviledges enjoyed by married couples, such as insurance benefits that man and wife might have. These are not "special priviledges" as Bush said in the 2000 debates. All they want is equal treatment under the law, and right now they're not getting it and I'm yet to hear one good reason why.
And don't talk to me about "morality." I'm sick of people using scripture to hide behind their own homophobia. The Bible says a lot of stuff that we don't listen to anymore. In fact, up until 1966, the Catholic church maintained that it was a sin to eat meat on Fridays. Times change, people change, and ideas change. I doubt that, since 1966, anybody's gone to Hell for stopping for a Big Mac while enjoying the start of the weekend.
In case anybody's wondering, I consider myself a "real-world" Christian. I believe in the basic message of The Bible, but I don't make myself an asshole over it. I also firmly believe in two of the most important themes in the New Testament: tolerance and forgiveness; two lessons that have been lost on a large number of Bible-thumpers all throughout history. And I don't even believe that Christians are the only ones who would be allowed to get into Heaven. I think being a good person comes before anything else. You can't tell me that Anne Frank is burning in Hell right now just because she didn't believe in Christ. No God of mine would do that. Faith can be a good thing to have, but there are even better and more important things than faith.
This whole issue of gay rights has me asking many questions that nobody can seem to answer to my satisfaction. How can anybody actually lose sleep over what consenting adults do in their own bedrooms? If they aren't hurting anybody, then why should we care? What gives the government the right to discriminate against people based on who they fall in love with? And most of all, here's what I REALLY want to know... Why the hell would God even CARE if you're gay or not?
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