On this blog, I generally spend time railing against the demonstrable idiocies of the young-earth creationists, but this is in no way to say that anti-evolution sentiment is the only form of unreason that is running about. No, there are many other forms that irrationality takes, from those I've touched on in this blog (the anti-vaccine movement) to those I haven't (birthers, UFO enthusiasts). Some of these forms of irrationality are rather harmless, like the old belief that Elvis wasn't actually dead, but some ideas which are quite unreasonable are not harmless at all. The anti-vaccine movement actively endangers the health of the public, and the creationists retard science education. But one other has been bothering me for some time, a topic that was easier left alone while criticism was levied against groups like the Discovery Institute and Answers in Genesis. The topic is, as you may have guessed, gay marriage and the LGBTQ rights movement--or rather the opposition to this. Whatever harm the creationists do, the opponents of gay equality do easily twice as much, and all with about as much intellectual justification for doing so.
The continued opposition to gay marriage--and by extension full gay equality--denies consenting couples the same rights enjoyed by their heterosexual peers, not only the right to be married but also the plethora of legal benefits that occur with it, from medical visitations to inheritance to, in many cases, adoption. Gays are currently prevented from participating fully in the Boy Scouts, and are routinely subjected to vilification by politicians, some commentators, and from many pulpits. Members of the LGBTQ community are, in many parts of the country, considered less than human even, subjected to hate speech, bullying, and even, on terrible occasion, being murdered, all for being who they are. And all for nothing; make no mistake, the ideas underpinning the opposition to gay equality are just as unreasonable as the rationale for rejecting Darwin's theory of evolution. They represent fear of the other, selective readings of religious texts, bigotry cloaked in high-sounding talk of "family values" and "religious liberty." In some cases, anti-gay rhetoric is a cloak to hide the fact that the speaker is, ironically, gay! Whatever the instance may be, there is no legitimate reason why gays in this country should not have the same rights as every American, the right to be married, the right to adopt, and, even more fundamentally, the freedom to be able to go where they wish without fearing for their safety. To argue otherwise, to argue that homosexuals are somehow immoral or that they are free to love whom they wish but should not be able to marry, is nothing more than ignorant bigotry.
I want to pause here for a moment to state that there are many good and kind people who oppose gay marriage, people who would be shocked that I'm labeling their beliefs bigotry. Such a person might ask how I can say this when they would never think of themselves as bigots. But, sadly, while this person may not be a bigot, their opposition to gay equality is in fact a form of prejudice against others, against citizens of our Republic who have just as much right to pursue happiness as they see it. This prejudice, whether it is intended to harm or not, actively does cause harm to people who have done nothing wrong. In part, the delay in reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act came from representatives who were uncomfortable that the protections of this Act included gays. The subsequent passage of the Act has not dimmed this opposition from some quarters, a fact which is downright shameful. How can one honestly think that a person does not deserve the same protections of the law just because they are gay?
Fortunately, the tide of public opinion is changing. For the first time, a majority of the public supports allowing gays to marry, a welcome development. While in previous years only Massachusetts permitted gay marriage while numerous states passed outright bans, last years' election saw three states (Washington, Maryland, and Maine) legalize gay marriage while another state saw a proposed ban on gay marriage defeated at the ballot box. At this point, it seems all but certain that gay marriage will become legal in every state; the only question is when and how. We may see the answer to this later this year, as the Supreme Court will be examining the question in two cases, one examining the controversial Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the other looking to decide the constitutionality of California's ban on gay marriage. It is quite possible that, if the Court would issue a sweeping decision, existing bans on gay marriage would be declared unconstitutional--it is also possible that they would rule more narrowly, only on the ban in California. It is additionally possible that they would decide against gay marriage, the worst possible outcome, one that would represent a tremendous setback to the movement. But no matter what the justices decide, it seems all but certain that gay marriage will become fully legal in the United States; I expect it within ten years, myself.
This is something that we should welcome, not deplore and fight. Allowing gay marriage is not only the right thing to do, it helps us move closer to the promised equality of our country. It is not an idea whose time has come, it is an idea that is positively overdue.
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