Truth Collective

Gay marriage, you say? Well, why not? In a surprising turn of events, same-sex marriage was legalized today in Vermont. I could go on about other legislation that has passed or is in the works regarding this, but I’ll let the article do the talking.

After Proposition 8 was passed during the 2008 general election in California, of all places, I was filled with questions and a bit of confusion. Proposition 8 essentially outlawed same-sex marriage in California, and when the most forward-thinking of all states passes such a restricting law, it’s cause for concern.

Marriage has roots in many contexts extending beyond the narrowly defined confines of one religion or another. It has as much value in a social context as it does in a religious one and has reaches far back beyond even Christ to the time of Greek dominion where Pandora was given as the first bride. More so, what about divorce? It’s legal in all states and performed in great abundance by people found in the most prevalent systems of belief. In the face of Christian religions, divorce is like saying the marriage was a lie–reasons are trivial. Sure people don’t like divorce, but it’s still allowed, isn’t it? What does divorce say of the great, onerous sanctity of “marriage” that so many in the US feel so strongly must remain solely between a man and a woman?

In short, the gays are getting gyped (nothing against you Gypsies; thievery is a respectable profession!). And whether you agree with homosexuality or not, as humans, they should be allowed the same rights in a social context as the rest of us.

Let me hammer this point a bit more. What same-sex couples are allowed in several states is a civil union. And you might say “well, that’s better than nothing,” but a civil union is something like a tease. Civil unions are granted some states rights, but they aren’t required to be honored by commercial organizations in the same way a marriage is. It’s been a very slow uphill battle, but civil unions are largely gimped. A lot has changed in the past decade, but as of 1997, there were nearly 1,050 federal permissions granted to married couples that were not also granted to civil unions. Since 2000, several states have come to allow civil unions and have granted nearly the same states rights to such unions as they do to marriages. More precisely, as of this writing, four states allow same-sex marriages, five states allow civil unions and grant them the same protections and rights as marriages, and five states allow civil unions but grant only a few of the same protections and rights as marriages.