A Straight Man's Thoughts on Gay Marriage

Gay Marriage. This is a topic I hold dearly unto myself, although I am not affected by the issue at all. Why? General Human Behavior, decency, acceptance, and rights. You hear a lot of "The Bible Says...". It's really the only argument that comes up at all aside from the narrow minded "What's next, we'll start marrying horses?", which frankly makes no sense at all, and infuriates me more. But basically, I'm going to be pondering these arguments against, and providing arguments for, while contesting those arguments against. If you are an extremely narrow minded, or insanely christian moraled person, I wish I could urge you to look away, as this Hub will no doubt set your mind in motion, and I really don't want to deal with hate mail, and complaints and flames in the comments section. However, I ask you to read on with an open mind, and try to be open-minded and accepting as you read, and actually sit back and REALLY think about this.

I could be like anyone else, and point out that we have a right (Yes, a RIGHT) to separation of Church and State, that this was just as much a gift given to us by our founding fathers as Free Speech. That those of us without fate are entitled to live our lives without the weight of religion dictating what is proper of our every actions, but I feel that is used a bit much, and it doesn't seem to get through anyway, so I'm going to try to break it all down into a finer paste so to speak. I want you to keep in mind, that a lot of this is going to seem like I am attacking religion, I am not. I fully believe to each his own, and I do not judge one based on their choices. It comes off as attacking because I can get pretty emotional about the subject, and for that I apologize in advance and ask you to read on with determination.

First of all, Separation of Church and State aside, the Bible says a lot of things. A Lot. That doesn't make it all correct. Take this gem for example:

Deuteronomy 21:10-14 "When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her."

TL;DR: If you win a war and see a beautiful woman amongst the defeated, you have the right to rip her from any family she has and take her as your wife, and she must leave her Mother and Father, and anything else she has and come live with you and serve you. Also, if later down the road you get tired of her, you can throw her out in the street, just don't sell her, that's wrong.

Or how about this one:

Exodus 21:1-4 "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself."

TL;DR: So if you do buy a slave, you have to free him after six years. Not too shabby considering the alternative; life as a slave, but it is still condoning slavery nonetheless. It goes on to mention that if you had bought a female Slave from her father, that you keep her for life. Look at this as well, if within that six years you assign him a wife, and she bears him children, you keep the wife and kids as your own, and throw him out.

The point of the above is simple, if anything in the Bible should be law, then why was slavery abolished? We should bring it back, right? It was such a popular thing when it was around, and after all, the Bible says...

"God hates Gays, he thinks they are unnatural and wants them to burn in hell." I hear this A lot, usually followed by something like, "We're just trying to save their mortal souls." Interestingly enough, God does not want ANY of his children to go to hell for ANY reason at all, so this is completely false.

Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

Matthew 25:41 "The he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels"

Hell was created solely for the devil and his angels, for those that would directly oppose God in his own dominion. The devil then decided to start taking souls that he considered corrupt in order to build an army against God, but God is constantly trying to make a place in Heaven where these souls can reside, away from the grasp of the devil. I propose this: By condemning God's children to hell for whatever actions they may choose to partake in regarding their own lives, and not negatively impacting those around them or God, or his Angels, you are thereby rejecting the word of God, and opposing him, and thus should be sent to Hell yourself, for you are merely echoing the actions of the devil.

Let's look purely at a viewpoint from a citizen of the great United States of America. We declared our independence from England, and from taxes, and from any form of oppression. We stood up unites, as one voice and said "No more oppression, we are all equal, and we shall be treated as such." A shining moment in the disgrace that is the Human reign over this world. This was one moment where everyone understood the truth. What ever happened to 'Leave and let Live', 'To each his own'. What ever happened to the common sense that as long as someone is not directly harming you or others out of spite or vengeance, you just let them make their choices and live their lives, and you didn't attack them or start a war over nothing.

Countless Men and Women have given their lives, and many more risked those very lives to uphold this Country, it's Government, and it's Citizens, all because of one simple, yet evidently negligible principle. Equal Rights. The thought that everyone, no matter their Gender, Race, Background, anything should be treated just the same as any other person. I'm sorry, but whereas the proof of your God's existence can only be theorized and assumed, I can take you to any military cemetary in the country and show you those graves. I can show you the Memorial Wall with all those names engraved, I can show you the widows and the Mothers, and the Fathers of soldiers who are giving their lives as you read this for Equal Rights. We as people, should not have the power or right to take away someone's rights. What if I told you your love didn't count? That all those memories you've shared, everything you've been through, and even though your whole life is based on the strongest bond anyone could possibly imaging sharing with another person, doesn't count. Not to mention take away your ability to combine your taxes, or even if I told you that you weren't allowed to take that person who you've devoted your life to to the hospital, because your choice doesn't match my imaginary criteria? How would you feel to have that all ripped away? What's next on the agenda then? Interracial marriage? Perhaps we should restrict marriage based on average salaries, social classes, even assign everyone a number on the infamous 1-10 hotness scale and say you can only marry with a number behind or ahead of your own? Of course we would never condone any of these things, they are absolutely absurd. But what makes limiting Gays and different? They're just people in love, nothing more. I want you to think about that next time you have this conversation with a friend, family member, or even just a random person. You have the power to change lives, to improve the world around you, to make this country, and this planet a place we can all be proud of, can want to fight for, you just have to be strong enough to let others do as they please. Simple as that. I've plenty more to comment on Gay Bullying, inherent discrimination, and the way we treat each other in General throughout our lives, but those are other stories, for other times.