I like to think I am pretty liberal. (I attribute that desire to an education in an east coast university) But I suppose the truth is that I am pretty conservative in a number of ways. After all I was raised Catholic and I grew up in a pretty conservative small town in the Southwest.
I have to say though that I am pretty taken aback by all the fuss raised over same sex marriages. I mean I don't really get it. Maybe I'm too young or else maybe its because I'm single. I can appreciate the fact that other people have had more and sometimes richer life experiences than me. But for me what I don't get is why straight people care whether or not gay people get married?
I don't care whether or not my neighbor votes or claims his tax refund or visits the local museum. I do all those things because as a member of society these things are available to me and in some fashion or another I pay for them. While I may not care whether or not my neighbor takes advantage of these things,
I certainly would care if he was not allowed to take advantage of these things. Even if I hated my neighbor I would be really disturbed if he was prevented from doing these things. How I feel about my neighbor is really a different thing from how I feel he should be treated by my government.
I read today on Google news that President Bush is in favor of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This is an election year and I understand that all the candidates are defining issues and taking sides. But I have to say this really disgusts me. What disgusts me is that he is supporting a legislative form of discrimination.
I mean what is the motivation for denying gay couples the right to wed? The only purpose it serves is to suppress them as a group. Maybe the majority of people want to suppress gays in this country. If this is the case then its even more important that the government work towards protecting gays and not supporting an agenda of fear and hate. You could argue that the president had no choice but to support a constitutional amendment, that to do otherwise would erode his conservative base and make him un-electable. But is that really worse than suppressing a segment of society? Is it more important to keep Bush Jr. in office than it is to treat our population with fairness and equality under the law?
So I guess this is how we start...
