The Marriage Debate

So lately the whole issue of gay marriage has been popping up and the inevitable argument of the “right” comes up. I think that everyone should have the right to marry – personally I don’t want to get married – and I have that right. I would gladly give my “right” (if it truly should even be called that to begin with) to marry to a gay couple. It’s not a privilege that should be kept for “straight” people. I mean let’s be honest, straight people have been abusing the institution of marriage and the ideal of what it is since a word was given to the term. To be clear not all straight people, but there are a lot out there… (Kim Kardashian anyone?).

The thing is, my parents had separated before I was even born and were divorced not long after, and as it turned out, the argument of gay marriage became quite personal in my life because my father is gay. He and his partner “married” one another insomuch as you can legally in Australia, yet even here gay marriage is not a complete and legal right as yet. Our atheist, unmarried Prime Minister doesn’t support it, for the life of me I can’t figure out how a person (the PM) who chooses not to married, chooses to deny others that right. It’s a crap world we live in sometimes.

I’m not even going to really think about the religious nutters out there prancing about shoving scripture down the throats of the masses. The bible is not real, in my opinion it is a carefully constructed piece of fiction used to streamline one faith for the masses. Each part was selected to control the ancient people, there was a lot not put in the bible – likely as not it was things that would not achieve the aim the Church wanted back then. In today’s world, children are married to adults and are expected to bear them children, in other countries inter-family marriage is not uncommon yet we balk at the idea of two people of the same sex who love one another getting married? Why?

Then there is the ridiculous debate that children should be raised by a mother and a father – let’s pretend for one minute that straight couples are entirely functional people with absolutely no problems, never fight and never negatively impact their children physically, emotionally and mentally…nah I can’t even pretend that for as long as it took me to write it. The best thing for children is to be brought up in a stable, loving environment with two parents who love them, support them and are there for them, no matter what sex those parents are. There are parents out there who are abusive, neglectful and all round unpleasant people who shouldn’t have kids, yet this is a better thing to have than two parents of the same sex raise a child – parents who will be loving and caring? How is that even a valid argument? And if gay couples want to adopt children out of foster care and give them a loving home – why not? Why damn not?

As far as I’m concerned, gay marriage shouldn’t even be a conversation to be had, it should be legal and allowed and afforded to gay couples just like it is straight couples. It shouldn’t be something that is considered a ‘right’ or a ‘privilege’; it should be something everyone (of age and consent) can participate in.

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