You know, I hardly ever participate in threads like this. Perhaps that's why I've got such a low post count here and on the other sites I frequent - sites about guns, sites about BMWs, sites about International trucks, sites about old Fords, sites about which is the best house paint or lawnmower to buy. But something about this particular one is just pushing my buttons, exactly as it was intended to do.
A few random observations, in no particular order:
1) As others have stated before me in much more technical, bordering-on-expert terms, this is not unusual. It's part of the legal system we live in. I'm by no means acquainted with the fine ins and outs of our legal and judicial systems, but this still seems pretty obvious to me.
2) You English majors out there need to expand your horizons and maybe start hanging out with people from different walks of life, people whose points of view you may not have considered. I would start with linguistics majors, if I were you - though the relationship might come to blows (you see what I did there?) if you start telling them that bullshit about how a word's original meaning is the same meaning it technically had when someone thought it up eons ago. The definition of any word is an iterative, neverending process - ESPECIALLY a word like "marriage," having to do with complex relationships and how they are viewed by others. The dictionary is full of words that used to mean different things than they do now, or now mean addiitonal things. Check out "liberal," "conservative," "queer," "gay," and yes, "homophobe" for starters. Once enough people think a word means something, it does. This evolution (oops, there's another one) is part of the beauty of our exceedingly complex language. My fiancee and I certainly won't get married in a fancy clubhou...excuse me, church, but I'm pretty sure I'll still considered us married. By law, no less. And I'm pretty sure most other people will, too. By the way, if there's a marriage of two ideas, does that have to be endorsed by and under the umbrella of "religion?"
3) On another linguistics note, it's amazing to me how quickly I stop giving credit to the opinions of anyone who starts spewing talk-show-host-isms (not a word, but it could be! Eh?). If you start spewing "the queers," "the wackjobs," "the pinko liberals," "the wingnuts," "the homos," "the Christians" - pretty much anything that starts with "the" and is supposed to encompass every single person from a certain walk of life - most intelligent people are going to stop taking you seriously. Oh, and "you people." That's always a good one.
4) In any group of people of the same persuasion, there are always the, shall we say, "more expressive." Usually these people are highly irritating. To me, when thinking about what's right or wrong on any human level, you have to be aware enough to know this and look past it. I'm not fond of gay pride parades either, and I find them obnoxious for the most part just like a previous poster. If I'm feeling a bit more charitable, they're entertaining enough, but nothing more. HOWEVER, this is because I, like many people, don't particularly care for the obnoxious element of any group. I'm easily irritated by people "flaunting" anything. I fully understand that for every funny dude marching in a feather boa and carrying a big sign, there are thousands of normal, non-attention-seeking people leading lives of all walks, just doing their thing, who happen to prefer or be wired for sex and intimate relationships with members of their own gender. It's those unheard-from masses of any group that you have to consider when you're forming opinions about almost anything in human society. It's just like how for every loudmouth bunghole right-wing crazy on the TV, there are thousands of quiet, reasonable, intelligent, conservative citizens of this country to whom gun rights, abortion law, and a certain perception of American tradition are particularly important. For every stinky dude with matted hair yammering unintelligible fight calls into a megaphone, shoving a clipboard in your face in front of the grocery store or state capital, there are thousands of people who work normal jobs, have normal families, and think that the US healthcare system needs a major overhaul, perhaps we should stop sending our troops into battle under extraordinarily questionable circumstances, and that our actions as a species can and do influence the way the planet changes. For every closeted child molester spewing fire and brimstone on the radio at night, there are thousands of people living everyday lives who just happen to believe in a certain path to rightness, salvation, goodness, morality - whatever - and choose to follow a certain set of rules and guidelines to get there.
5) So, as an example, what's up with people who dislike gay folks (I mean, "the queers") as a general group? You think that just because you personally are disgusted by the idea of getting blown by a dude (and I KNOW some of you are into butt sex, so don't feed me any of that bullshit), and because you see some folks on TV wearing lipstick and chanting slogans in floofy voices, that means that gay people as a whole shouldn't have the right to go about life in the same way you do? Nonsense. You think that two gay parents are going to "turn" their sons and daughters gay? Nonsense. And so what if they did? Personally, I don't even see why gay marriage comes up for voting on. Personally, I don't consider it any of my goddamn business who gets married and who doesn't. You know why? Because it ISN'T any of my goddamn business, that's why. Nor is it yours. Like so many other things in life, just because you don't like it, don't mean it ain't true, bro. It's just ridiculous the way people seem to think they should have a right to lord over other people's lives - I'll never understand it.
6) Don't believe me about the normal gay folks? OK, just like straight folks, some really ARE aberrant. Some are assholes. Some are corporate CEOs lording it over the little man. Some are dangerous criminals. But...some are preachers. Some are desk jockeys, some are parents, some are aid workers, some are...you get the idea. Some are like my cousin - a six-foot-five, testosterone-laden, fast-drivin' firefighter/paramedic/cop who has: personally rescued people from burning buildings. Snatched fishermen out of shark-infested waters in rainstorms in the middle of the night. Dived to the bottom of a lake to retrieve children from the oily wreckage of a powerboat whose owner was too stupid to give them life jackets. Protected the streets of his city. Invested wisely. But: has been known to use the word "darkie," and can be curiously intolerant for someone who's had to deal with a lot of intolerance himself. And pretty much defined the word "promiscuous" during his 20s. That's right, an outstanding and flawed citizen, like so many others. A 100% "out" citizen. And one who still wouldn't hesitate to beat the living shit out of you if you called him a fag - and if his little Thai sweetheart of a boyfriend or either of his ex-military, gun-ownin', very conservative, and rather massive brothers were present, you'd be SO done.
And do I think he should get married to his little Thai sweetheart of a boyfriend? Absolutely. They're planning to, and I certainly hope they have the opportunity, regardless of how unappealing I might imagine their bedroom acitivities to be. And you know what? They'd make great parents, too.
7) This is going to happen, whether you or I like it or not. Fifty years from now, 17-year-old students will wonder at the history books that tell of historic decisions to allow same-sex marriages, just as I wondered about an actual law having to be passed to allow women to vote, or allow interracial marriages, or enforce civil rights. And as for the slippery slope - well, polygamy makes me uncomfortable too, but honestly as long as everyone involved is cool with it and doing it voluntarily, what do I care? And beastiality, and incest? Seriously, folks? Let's toss out a little word here - just for shits and giggles, let's call it "consent" - and see where that gets that argument. Last I checked, rape was in no danger of becoming legal...
8) Jesus, it takes FOREVER to write a post like this! I'd never be able to even do it if I wasn't off work today. Maybe there's another reason for the limited post count, eh?
Stop oversimplifying, folks, OK? It's a complicated world.
