Friday, November 07, 2008

Sad

Two things happened this week, amid all my hope, to make me sad. First, Proposition 8 and similar referendums in several other states were passed to remove and limit the rights of my fellow country-persons who happen to also share a different sexuality from me. This makes me sad because I don't understand at all how such a thing can even be happening in this country.

If we remove religious objections to homosexuality, what other grounds are there preventing two adults from marrying one another and sharing the legal and tax benefits Corey and I enjoy? Since we have separation of church and state in our country, how are we letting religious interpretations of a marriage affect our legal interpretations of the same institution? There are a lot of things, legal things, that go against my spiritual views and there are also a lot of religions practicing in our nation that hold views very contrary to mine. And that's all ok, because we have separation of church and state and these things don't affect my tax bracket or the cost of my car insurance.

I wonder if we're letting vocabulary get in our way? Would it make people feel better if we referred to all legal unions (those performed not by clergy but by judges and things) as civil unions...even those unions of one man and one woman? I just feel so sad about the whole situation.

The other great sadness of my week is the return of cigarette smoking to the rugby bar. They filed for and obtained an exemption to the Clean Air Act, so the little divey bar is now a smoke den again. I hear that the bar has lost great amounts of business from regular customers who now go elsewhere to sit and drink over a nice, smelly cigarette. I know that the team does not make up the bulk of the clientele and that we have to think first of keeping the bar profitable. But now that it's smokey again I can't really go there and enjoy myself. I just can't go back to that. So I feel like that's a second hole in my heart this week.

Perhaps something fantastic will happen and our president elect will enact a sweeping, nationwide civil rights law allowing all persons to wed whomever they love and banning smoke from all places where humans have to breathe inside closed walls...like Great Britain! I love how Elton John is allowed to be married to his husband and not have to worry that his sequin pants will get stinky if they pop to the pub for some mushy peas after a long day at the piano.

10 comments:

Valtastic said...

It annoys because it's for the sanctity of marriage... how about we ban people under 26 from getting married since htey have a higher divorce rate? how about we ban celebrities from marrying since their divorce rate is higher than the average citizen.... it's ridic. Let people that love each other get married. At the gay male wedding I went to last weekend it was great.. it was in a CHURCH. It was a church that was renovated into a reception hall. It was great.

Anonymous said...

If the term marriage is religious then people who don't get married in a religious ceremony that are hetero should be getting civil unions and not be allowed to call it marriage either. At least that is the logical counter point.

Anonymous said...

I'm beginning to think that in order ot qualify for a masters degree you are required to be complete void of any sense of values or morality.

You are obviously very intelligent, You strive to do right in your life, I enjoy your musings immensly, but you don't have to go over the edge Katy.

Is the Old Testament no longer applicable, even to those whom God blessed with it? THAT, while not ultra-modern, ultra-liberal, etc. is still applicable to our everyday lives. Check out Joshua 1:8.

Hey, my goal here isn't to beat you over the head with a Bible or anything else. I don't even know you, but I feel like I can identify with your place in life right now, I was there just a few years ago.

Isn't there a point you come to where you can't go any further to the left without becoming utterly ridiculous? Or, perhaps you've reached that low already.

P said...

*psssst*, anon,

THERE ARE GAYS READING THIS VERY BLOG.

Also, insulting the blogmistress? Classy.

Anonymous said...

i just want to say that i am not anon.

Katy said...

you know, the old testament also tells us that menstruating women need to be kept separate from the crowd for a few weeks and that it's really not good to eat dairy and meat together as a unit. that american tradition of the cheeseburger? eat one and you might as well enter a gay civil marriage.

and it's ok if you pick and choose among the things you support in the bible, because that's religion and our great country entitles you to have one and follow it and embrace it. but we also have a separation of church and state. you can't make a religious argument against something like gay marriage, because it's a religious argument. jews aren't pushing to have mcdonald's shut down until they keep kosher. why are christian people trying to impose their beliefs on others?

it doesn't make sense to me.

ninny said...

em, you are awesome!

Anonymous said...

if Katy goes any farther to the left, she'll a) bump into me and b) we'll fall off the edge of that flat earth you probably still believe in. ;P

Valtastic said...

I love the responses to anonymous... I'm Catholic and use the pill.. I guess I'm going to burn in hell with my friends the gays...at least I won't be with the close minded anonymous. What happened to "thou shalt not judge?"

Battered Barbie said...

To answer Anon's question...(sorry for butting in Katy)

No, the Old Testament is no longer applicable. Taking it word for word is about as wise as living life by the rules of ANY Victorian novel.

If you believe in the bible, wonderful for you. I don't. That doesn't make me immoral. Nor does the joy I feel when I see my gay friends find love and companionship. They have as much right to it as I.

What harm does gay marriage cause to you? What threat does it pose?

I may not believe in the bible, but I respect others' views and beliefs. I would never try to convince a Christian there's no god, simply because I don't believe in one.

There is not ONE road for all, but many different paths.