Friday, November 30, 2012

con·fused: Unable to think clearly; bewildered.

Tonight I find myself confused, yet again, while speaking to a conservative acquaintance of mine. She'd been on Fox News (ugh...) and saw a story about the Supreme Court debating gay marriage and what State level legalization meant for the Federal benefits married gay couples would be eligible for.   Her actual understanding of the article was less exact and she thought the Supreme Court was arguing to legalize gay marriage in all States regardless of the will of the citizens in that State but asking her to read more than the headline and first paragraph was just wasted air.  As we talked about the issue, she pointed out some very astute facts: 1) "80% of Americans believe gays are gross."  and 2) "God says gay marriage should be illegal."

Did I choose an easy target?  Yes, but hang in there.

1) "80% of Americans believe gays are gross."
Gallop polls are, arguably, one of the most trusted sources for polling public opinion and while they have never posted a poll, that I could find, that gathered data on how gross gays are, they do post poll data of how Americans feel about gay marriage.  Here's one now!  It even has a line graph for those of us that prefer to look at pictures and feel reading is a bit overrated.  The support of gay marriage has increased by 23% since 1996 and has taken the lead by a 3% margin as of the date on this poll.  So, unless it started at -3%, 80% seems a bit lacking in the logic department.  Furthermore, peas and mushrooms are gross.  Pretending to drink blood and eat flesh is gross.  Actually drinking blood and eating flesh is gross.  Finding the person that makes you happy and adds value to your life is freakin' awesome.

2) "God says gay marriage should be illegal."
This argument is irrelevant.  I'm not even going to get into a "he said/she said" argument on this hot mess.  It does not matter in any way, shape or form what any god said or didn't say on a the subject of American laws.  Here's a letter written by Thomas Jefferson that basically says, "Get your bible outta my politics".  The Baptist church was full of members of the same political affiliation as Jefferson and they all thought they were going to get a say in Jefferson's administration.  This letter and the First Amendment were cited by the Supreme Court when they released this statement:
"The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach."
                                                                              -Supreme Court, Everson v. Board of Education, 1947

So even if somebody thinks their god says gay marriage should be illegal, it doesn't matter one little bit.

I guess the point of my rant this lovely fall evening would be that regardless of your religion, philosophy or moral creed, the rights of people are not for you decide.  If you want freedom and the right to follow your own path then learn to recognize that same desire in others.  Fight the fight for everybody's rights instead of this belief that you can only have what you want if the freedoms of others are diminished.  Whether you believe that a god gave us the right to be free or that it is just part of being a individual, we must all recognize that the rights afforded to the those that are different from us do not lessen the rights we have come to expect.

Also, this the best gay rights argument I've seen in 10-words-or-less on a poster board in a long time: