With gay marriage in the news almost daily because of some recent, and not so recent, happenings I decided to see what's been going on and what people are saying about it. This political debate is interesting and sometimes appalling. I find it interesting and hopeful that to this date there are now four states: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa, in which same sex unions/marriages are legal. However there are 29 states that have banned same sex unions. Why do I care? Well because I do believe that allowing same sex marriage is an equal right and not a privilege or special rights. Gender should not have any thing to do with who gets to be married, furthermore I don't understand how allowing same sex marriage takes anything away from my own marriage to my husband. I do believe that it is mostly the conservatives and religious rights activists that are so against same sex marriages. The first video in this blog was produced by the National Organization For Marriage and it is absolutely wrong. This video is misleading and offensive. The website for this organization is full of ridiculous talking points against gay marriage and what it would do to all of us if it were legalize. I also disagree on their opinions that gay marriage undermines the importance for children to have a mother and a father in their homes, gender aside I believe that many same sex parents have family values, they just aren't your "traditional family values". They still care about their kids and are responsible parents. These people are bigots and homophobes.
On the other hand I absolutely loved the rebuttal video (shown second). This video along with other press in favor of same sex marriage can be found at Courage Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Freedom to Marry and many more sites. Pro Gay Rights California residents who are still waiting to hear a decision on Proposition 8 are hoping that the ruling for Vermont will help in their cause. For the four and a half months that same sex marriage was legal in California 18,000 gay and lesbian couples did say "I Do". Good for them, GLBT people should have the same rights as the rest of society and I wish them luck and happily support them in their pursuit of equality and happiness.
I completely agree with you, and I think that this post is very interesting. I had never heard of the National Organization for Marriage before, and after looking at their Talking Points I am disgusted by their campaign. I was shocked to see their "language to avoid at all costs" in which they said that, for those people that want to emulate the thinking of the National Organization for Marriage, they should stop saying that they want to ban same-sex marriage. Instead of saying this (which is essentially what they want to do) they say that people should say that they are against “redefining marriage.” This small change in language, while not completely false, does make their views seem more likeable, which is exactly what they were going for. The National Organization for Marriage is being very smart in their campaign for more followers. It is interesting that they are unwilling to be completely honest in their views and they are teaching those people that agree with them that they have to hide how they really feel so as not to scare off new members. Their idea that allowing homosexuals to marry will “redefine marriage” for straight couples is absolutely ridiculous. Gay couples are not trying to change marriage for anyone else, in fact they just want what straight couples can already have, so how would that harm marriage? In fact, according to some statistics, 50% of marriages end in divorce, and since homosexuals can’t get married it is obvious that it is straight couples that are divorcing. So, it seems to me, that since marriage is no longer completely about procreation (and since we have about 6 billion people on earth, I don’t think that we need to worry about the human race suddenly dying out), we should allow people to marry who they want to.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't access the first video but I found this post very interesting. Everyone is constantly talking about gender differences, so why does same sex marriage matter to people so much. If someone is happy then you should let them live their life and not try to ban it in certain states so that they cant get married.
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