The argument is not whether gay people should get married, but the issue is whether history will repeat itself by the majority exerting control over the minority, again. I think most people agree that it is appropriate and acceptable for homosexual couples to start a life together and have the law recognize that desire. But, the problem is that the church, the government, the radical conservatives think it will open a floodgate of weird unions that are not authorized by religion’s one cucumber and one clamshell per marriage decree. When I hear people talk about sanctity of marriage or the “word of God” I feel compelled to laugh. That’s just pious sanctimoniousness. Is the surplus of heterosexual divorce, cheating and domestic violence more sacred than two happily married homosexual people? The word of God is only the law that men wanted others to think was higher than them and therefore reliable and infallible. We have regulated laws now that are nearly universal and are fairly close to the Ten Commandments. The ones that are not general laws deal with religion directly, such as: honor the Sabbath, honor parents, no other gods, no idols, and don’t curse God. Football Sundays, bad parents, atheism, American idol, and blasphemy all prove that we can get away with breaking those rules and the Earth not eating us alive in a shower of ash and lava. However, if you steal a Lexus or kill the owner, you might find yourself in a cramped, overcrowded prison wishing you had just stayed home on Sunday to watch the Steelers.

The point of invoking religion to prove that homosexuality is a sin is flawed and wrong. You’re intelligent enough to know you’re praying to something that may not exist, or at the very least, has no definite, provable opinion on the issue. Homosexual haters and Prop 8 instigators cannot use the Bible in their arguments such as: “Adam and Eve; not Adam and Steve”. If you took the religious opposition away from them you might hear arguments like this: “It makes me uncomfortable” or “There will be no more procreation” or “Divorce should be between a drunk, angry man and a delirious, bruised woman.” We really need to advance as a society from our pathetic grasp of what is “right” and move toward the idea of: does it affect the world negatively? Oil spills, terrorism, pollution, animal cruelty, poverty, cancer are negative. Two people who want to be around each other every day is positive.

What is the real argument here? What do the hateful picket signs represent? Why do people feel so against one on one gender relations? Every case may differ, but I believe the main fight is about sex. Hetero males probably have an innate fear of forced sodomy, and don’t see the reproductive point of gay sex. Hetero females fear being left alone with their cats and Meg Ryan movies, while the handsome gay men parade down the street hand in hand singing Madonna songs. Fear is a strong emotion, much stronger than revulsion. We shouldn’t fear gay people. Gay men dress well and are effective organizers. Gay women are just as versatile and strong as any other woman. I can’t believe we even have to argue about it. Sometimes I hear the problem of giving them equal rights like health care for spouses and hospital visitation rights. Seriously, 300 years ago, whites thought blacks were a different type of person. 200 years ago, the Irish were less than human. 100 years ago, women were incapable of forming reasonable enough thoughts to vote. Our intelligence has increased exponentially every year since computers were invented; yet our tolerance of difference has remained static and ridiculously archaic. It’s time we gave up on the Bible as literal words from a man in the sky, and time we gave up on regulating things that make passé people cringe. If you want to have faith in a book that was purportedly written by an old bearded white man who sleeps on clouds and is very angry when you don’t sing loudly on Christmas Eve, it’s your right to do so. If you want to believe that he would disagree with choices made by his creation in the “free will” he or she gave us all, that’s your right. If you aren’t into clam pie or don’t like hot dogs, that’s cool, diff’rent strokes. What’s not cool is to withhold civil rights for a large portion of American people. So let’s everybody remember, I’ll do it my way, you do it your way, and the sun will still rise.

Season 16 Episode 10