As I suspected, the ban on gay marriage passed overwhelmingly, in spite of the fact that it is grossly unconstitutional. I thought I'd seen the height of disgusting where rape of the constitution was concerned. I guess I need to raise my standards a little.
Do you think that I'm maybe just a little tired of hearing about narrow-minded people trying to tell other people how to live their life based upon a belief system that other person may not care about? Nah. I probably just got up on the wrong side of the bed today or something.
Sadder still, however, is the fact that those displeased with the results (which very obviously infringe upon the civil rights of a significant portion of the population, albeit a minority) have been rather uniformly restrained from voicing their opinions. A significant example of this was recently publicized on our local news station. This station reported that a webmaster of a small city's website was fired after he posted an editorial voicing his opposition to the ban. His editorial was, of course, removed from the site as well.
I can understand that the editorial would have to be moved if he had put it someplace inappropriate, such as plastering it across the site's main page, but the whole idea that his opposition was completely stifled just sat badly with me and left a sour taste in my mouth. I certainly hope that this isn't indicative of a resurging trend towards strangling dissenting opinion. I realize people in this area of the country are particularly inclined to fear that which they do not understand, but I am constantly amazed that they continually wave the flag and tout their "patriotism" while simultaneously denying people rights they are entitled to under the Constitution of the country they love. It seems so ludicrously hypocritical to me.
Incidentally, I think this will be the last "tirade entry" for a while. While I do enjoy encouraging critical thought in others and challenging people to think "outside the box," I don't want to offer you all the impression that I am "down" on society or overly cynical. It just happens that there have been a number of issues in the past few weeks that caught my attention and issues which I felt were worth commenting on. You will likely see more commentaries such as these at a later time, but I don't want my entire online journal to sound like an angsty teenager constantly harping on the injustice of "the system." That is so not my style!! ^_^
Copyright 2005 S.L. Olson
13 April 2005
03 April 2005
The "Sanctity" of Marriage
This is beyond amazing to me.
In two days, this state is going to be voting on whether or not an amendment will be passed prohibiting gay marriage here. Of course it will pass, because this state is rife with people frightened of anything that exists outside of their dogmatic sphere. I know that, and I have come to terms with this fact.
But I was struck with the incredible irony of the entire situation as I watched a piece of the conservative propaganda on television this evening aired under the guise of a "public service message." Their big catch phrase around here and across the country has been, "protect the sanctity of marriage."
Uhm... Excuse me... What!?
I'm sorry, but "sanctity" and "marriage" have been oxymorons for a number of decades now. You cannot call marriage sacrosanct when your country already has a divorce rate greater than 60%. The sanctity of the rite is pretty much shot to hell when you have more people getting divorced than getting married, and anyone who is hypocritical enough to believe that marriage is still perfectly sacred with that fact staring them in the face but believes that it will be destroyed because Jennifer and Joan want to get married are completely blind.
If you want to return sanctity to marriage, I suggest that instead of pushing a particular social group out of eligibility, you push to make it harder to get a divorce or require more effort to become married in the first place. Attempting to restrict two people who love one another from making a formal commitment based upon that love while ignoring the fact that marriage is already treated like a Las Vegas indulgence to be shaken off like a hangover on Monday blatantly spits in the face of the sanctity of the rite. Two people of the same gender who want to get married can do no more damage to marriage than has already been done by a plethora of irresponsible heterosexual couples.
Copyright 2005 S.L. Olson
In two days, this state is going to be voting on whether or not an amendment will be passed prohibiting gay marriage here. Of course it will pass, because this state is rife with people frightened of anything that exists outside of their dogmatic sphere. I know that, and I have come to terms with this fact.
But I was struck with the incredible irony of the entire situation as I watched a piece of the conservative propaganda on television this evening aired under the guise of a "public service message." Their big catch phrase around here and across the country has been, "protect the sanctity of marriage."
Uhm... Excuse me... What!?
I'm sorry, but "sanctity" and "marriage" have been oxymorons for a number of decades now. You cannot call marriage sacrosanct when your country already has a divorce rate greater than 60%. The sanctity of the rite is pretty much shot to hell when you have more people getting divorced than getting married, and anyone who is hypocritical enough to believe that marriage is still perfectly sacred with that fact staring them in the face but believes that it will be destroyed because Jennifer and Joan want to get married are completely blind.
If you want to return sanctity to marriage, I suggest that instead of pushing a particular social group out of eligibility, you push to make it harder to get a divorce or require more effort to become married in the first place. Attempting to restrict two people who love one another from making a formal commitment based upon that love while ignoring the fact that marriage is already treated like a Las Vegas indulgence to be shaken off like a hangover on Monday blatantly spits in the face of the sanctity of the rite. Two people of the same gender who want to get married can do no more damage to marriage than has already been done by a plethora of irresponsible heterosexual couples.
Copyright 2005 S.L. Olson
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