Atavistic Endeavor

There are no secular arguments against same-sex marriage that cannot be applied to traditional marriage.  There are also no religious arguments against same-sex marriage that remain rational outside of the narrow-minded world view of that religion, and if something is only rational within the scope of your religion, it’s not rational.  The truth is not subjective.  I will now look at three possible arguments against same-sex marriage:  the religious argument, the “good of the species” argument, and the “traditional marriage” argument.  I’ll be using the word “belief” instead of “thought” throughout this essay because the arguments against same-sex marriage are beliefs, not thoughts.  If the people that hold these views constructed rational thoughts about them, they would no longer hold them.

Let’s start with the religious argument.  You may argue that same-sex marriage is wrong because your god says it is wrong.  That’s fine.  I might have a problem with your god, but I’ll save that for another time.   You have the right to believe whatever you want to believe.  However, in this country we don’t make laws based on the Bible, a book that was written when people were dumber than they are today.  It violates our first amendment rights and is therefore unconstitutional.  You can still be against same-sex marriage in the same way that I am against killing innocent animals.  I don’t try to get laws passed that make eating animals illegal, I just don’t eat them.  So, if you’re a man and you really believe that same-sex marriage is wrong, don’t marry another man.  It’s as simple as that.

The next argument is the “good of the species” argument.  You may argue that same-sex marriage is wrong because homosexual sex acts cannot result in conception and therefore do not contribute to the propagation of our species.  It is true that no homosexual sex acts result in conception.  However, thanks to birth control pills and condoms, most heterosexual sex acts do not result in conception either.  That is a good thing because if every sex act resulted in reproduction we would all starve to death.  That is what is currently happening in Africa, where religious leaders denounce the use of contraception, causing a great deal of pain and suffering.  You cannot have it both ways.

The final argument is the “traditional” argument.  You may say that you believe same-sex marriage is wrong because it undermines the traditional view that marriage is between a man and a woman, cheapening existing marriages and destroying real family values.  Well, to me, that begs a few questions.  Does voting still have the same value to you now that women are allowed to do it?  Do you still enjoy dining at nice restaurants even though they serve black people?  Think about it.  Would anything really be different to you if your gay cousin was allowed to marry the guy in your bowling league that rolls the pink ball?

The belief that genetic differences between people should determine their basic rights is archaic and ignorant.  Eventually, the human race will realize this and our children’s children will laugh at how stupid we were.  However, we don’t have to wait that long.  We can come to know better now and avoid looking like the backward people that used to sacrifice virgins to make it rain or the people that thank God for keeping them three cars ahead of the traffic jam while at the same time allowing a tsunami to kill thousands of innocent children somewhere else on the other side of the world.