inphiltrate nonfiction v.7.5

Drew and I were having a conversation about Prop 8 (the ban on gay marriage in California) the other day, and I didn’t really think anyone else agreed with me about gay marriage and gay rights until I saw this article about a week later that pretty much echoed my thoughts on the subject.

As any person with half a brain should be, I’m for gay rights; however, I’m against gay marriage. No, that’s not contradictory. Marriage has sacred roots (holy matrimony), and because the Christian Bible looks down upon homosexuality, I’m not exactly sure why gay people want to get “married” in the first place, since they’re typically not Christian anyway.

Far too often, I’ve seen the word “marriage” used to mean nothing more than the benefits associated with it. Most companies, for example, offer health insurance to their employees and their employees’ families. You can’t have a “legal” family if you can’t get married, and this is where the concept of marriage as far as the government is involved is flawed. Love is love, regardless of the ceremony used to join two people. Do you really need a ceremony with a very specific title to make your love official?

Government should only allow civil unions to gay and straight couples. This is the only fair way to solve the problem. Churches should allow marriage to whoever they want, so, probably 99.9% straight couples only. The government should recognize marriages and civil unions, but only perform the latter (judges, for example, should not be able to “marry” a couple; rather, they should grant a civil union).

Remember, there is no law against having a ceremony to celebrate your love. This entire debacle is about the benefits associated by being officially together in the government’s eyes, all the while not being “separate but equal” (the government can’t grant marriages to straight couples and civil unions to gay couples – that’s similar to having “white” water fountains and “black” water fountains).

If you don’t fully understand my view on this subject, I suggest you take a look at the article I linked to. Separate but equal does not work, so civil unions for everyone.

-Philip

It is currently November 4th, 2008, and thus, Election Day here in the United States of America. I want to dedicate this post to that topic, and I will be posting again shortly with something else.

First of all, i want to express my disgust with both of the candidates we’re presented with this year.

The bad: McCain is a whole lot of the same – unconstitutional war, bad economy. Obama – more government in practically every aspect you can think of. Neither is going to deal with taxes in an appropriate way.

The good: McCain isn’t going to give us socialized healthcare. Obama understands technology.

Overall, I don’t think more of the same is a good thing. I don’t think the world respects us anymore and I think that, no matter his policies, Obama would be a better president to restore our standing in the world’s eyes. And then on the other hand, I hate practically everything he wants to do (and understandably, I’m a [real] conservative, he’s liberal). So if McCain or Obama aren’t the answer, then, well, I guess I just have to put up with it for the next 4-8 years.

I’m not voting simply based on the fact that my vote would be, as a friend put it, a “protest vote,” as I would vote for Ron Paul. Driving to Houma to vote would be a waste of my time, because McCain will win Louisiana and Obama will win the presidency, and that’s just how it will be no matter how you or I vote (or don’t vote).

So there you have it. McSame and Nobama, no thanks.

-Philip