Because I’ve been asked, and certainly more than once …
Among the current lineup of Hot-Bed issues (no pun), the topic of Gay Marriage
gets pushed front and center whenever a new and additional State signs on
to the ‘right to marry’, among Gays.
Okay … for one to understand my perspectives (note the plural),
you have to first know what square I start on … For my placement on
that board – that square – can lead one to two seemingly
opposing thoughts regarding Gay marriage. So read on, as I process it …
THE SQUARE I START ON:
As of this day, I have never married. I very well could in days ahead, for
I don’t entirely reject the possibility, conceptually. But once one
hits forty, without ever having a ‘legal partner’, I suppose it
could be reasoned that marriage was not near the top of my personal
‘To-Do’ list. I simply didn’t prioritize it, as others often
have. And, with this, I may not have the same reverence for ‘The
Institution’ that others, I know, have. From this single
square, this longtime, ‘Living in Sin’ perspective, I can yield
two somewhat different positions …
POSITION ONE:
It seems to me that as long as all legal and civil matters are tended to,
then Civil Unions should suffice – even though I’m not
entirely sure if hetero couples ‘living in sin’ have
ever asked – or have been granted – similar considerations. I
don’t actually know (Mental note to self: Investigate this). This, naturally
coming from a ‘Living in Sin’ perspective, from those times that
I’ve done so.
But I already know that my Gay friends would counter, “Joseph …
to simply ‘suffice’ is simply not sufficient ... and further
implies a second-class citizenry – with a different set of considerations,
from the start, where we should be entirely satisfied and ‘content’
with … ‘the sufficient’.” … And as I ponder
what would be this likely argument from my Gay friends, the thing
is …
They’d be right.
Which leads me to yet another perspective – if one could call
it a ‘perspective’, per se …
POSITION TWO:
… I really don’t care … If my Gay friends (all
Gays, indeed) want to marry, I say, go ahead – knock yourselves out.
Hell, I’ll even attend your weddings because, as Gays, I know that the
food just has to be bitchin’ at the reception … To which
my Gay friends would protest, “Joseph, your smart little remarks aside
… to simply ‘not care’ is every bit as bad as the
sentiments of those who directly oppose us, and our desire to marry.”
… And the thing is …
They’d be right.
So, I’ll say this … I have a residence in the very first
American state to make Gay marriage legal. And, as I look around me …
People still scurry off to work, they watch their baseball, pick up the
groceries, children go to school and play. Despite a long list of problems
in Massachusetts – many, indeed, at the hand of my own liberalism –
Gay marriage is seemingly not among them. There is no fall of Rome, and no
deviant sex orgies, homo or hetero – for I would surely
know about those. In fact, if oddly, there’s not even a smattering
of ‘point to’ evidence that Gay marriage … even exists
in the state. I’m sorry people, but I just can’t see the harm –
literally … anywhere. Life is seemingly just as it was before.
As a further consideration, we on the hetero side more generally perceive
Gays in one of two ways: The flamboyant parade … and the
pornographic. Indeed, many among us – outside of the Gays, themselves
– don’t see the homosexual in emotional terms … that
they, too, could love as genuinely and as profoundly as … ‘the
rest of us’. For no emotion can possibly be genuine when
it’s tied to ‘emotional illness’, as thought by many.
How incredibly wrong.
In truth, I see this article as a mere lead-in for another commentary
that expressed support for Gay marriage much better that I could – better,
in fact, that I’ve heard from most Gays …
It is, indeed, from Keith Olbermann … Yes, I know that my conservative
readers are rolling their eyes back in their heads. But the rational among
you know that – whether you agree with Olbermann or not – his
commentaries are extremely well written, structured, and presented.
In fact, what follows I consider to be among his best … often times,
his most emotional – perhaps, even poignant. I don’t expect that
it will change the minds of those most vehemently opposed to Gay marriage,
for there are no words for them. But, at the least, perhaps
Olbermann will give you some points to ponder – even if he doesn’t
ultimately compel. If you choose to be entirely dismissive, do so
at the peril of your own integrity – not as a partisan, not as a person
of faith, not as a heterosexual, but as a human being …
