"I hereby pronounce you......Husband and Husband!!!" As often and as far as I have remembered since I have heard of gay pride, my stance towards gay marriage has often been of one mantra: Give everyone the same privilege and rights, as well as the same legal responsibilities.
As far as marriage is concerned, I think it is pretty much litigious crap, and I don't expect everyone to share my erstwhile views. Differences in opinion, however, does not mean that I am against marriage in general: Some people like cabbage, others like spinach. I am not in a position to convert anyone to my own libertine ideals, and unlike religious fundamentalists I am educated and rational enough to understand that everyone aspires to different ideals, and so long as it is within the legal confines of secular law, there is absolutely no reason for me to lampoon gay marriage, or any other form of marriage beyond my own personal skepticism.
Unfortunately, for religious folks, they are not so magnanimous: Like Daniel Chew and his homophobic gang of pious folks, they do think that gays are, by biblical standards, immoral and some would liken them to an abomination. Thinking that only straight people have a divine right to the institution of marriage, they are quite adamant to the idea that marriage is exclusively a one-man-one-woman preposition.
So, imagine the chagrin of Christians in Iowa when the law finally passed a bill legalizing gay marriages!
Excerpts from Yahoo:
Gay Marriages Expected to Begin in Iowa on April 24
1. Gay Marriage Finally Approved!
DES MOINES, Iowa – Gay marriage, seemingly the providence of the nation's two coasts, is just weeks away from penetrating the heartland and it appears there is nothing social conservatives can do immediately to stop it.
The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and woman. Now gays and lesbians may exchange vows as soon as April 24 following the landmark decision.
The county attorney who defended the law said he would not seek a rehearing. The only recourse for opponents appeared to be a constitutional amendment, which couldn't get on the ballot until 2012 at the earliest.
2. Christians Mourn Victory for Gay & Lesbian Marriage
"I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways," said a dejected Bryan English, spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, a conservative group that opposes same-sex marriage.
3. Gays Cheer Victory: Equality at Last!In Iowa, hundreds cheered, waved rainbow flags and shed tears of joy at rallies in seven cities Friday evening. "Corn-fed and Ready to Wed!" read one man's sign at a gathering at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
In downtown Des Moines, about 300 people gathered beneath rainbow flags to celebrate including Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie.
"We finally have equality in Iowa," said Harold Delaria, of Des Moines, who attended the rally and has two gay children. "It's kind of the last wall of legalized discrimination and it's coming tumbling down."
The Rev. Diane McLanahan of Trinity United Methodist Church in Des Moines acknowledged that many people of faith won't agree with the ruling. With that in mind, she said the court has reached a decision that "pretty much insists that this will not be a debate about religious rights but a matter of equality and fairness."
4. Supreme Court: Gay Marriages A Constitutional Right
In its ruling, the Supreme Court upheld an August 2007 decision by a judge who found that a state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection.
The Right to Marry Extends to All and SundryUnlike religious morons like Daniel who chimes on and on about the perceived ills of liberalism and with it, gay marriage, everyone should be entitled the right to marry as per secular marriages decree.
Invoking religion as a moral basis to restrict or ban gay marriages is an unfair and unjust decision, simply because there is no legal basis for the courts to do so. And the Iowa courts certainly did the right thing they have been asked to do.
As for the Christians.....I am already hearing chants of "Persecution, Persecution!" ringing incessantly in my ears!
-"No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody. "
Rita Mae Brown, speech, 28 August 1982
