A man and a woman? Same sex? We’ve heard a lot about this recently. But why is it such an issue? Where did we get the idea that it can only occur between a man and a woman; or does it not have to? Can it be any way, or does it have to be only one way?
Most of us grew up with the traditional understanding of what a marriage is because of what our founding ethics have been based on; that being the Judeo Christian ethics as determined by the old and new testaments of our western culture brought over by the protestant colonialists. But there are many things that have been dictated by these ethics that when looked at under closer scrutiny, we can question as to the necessity of continuing these dogmas in light of new information and other, more modern, ways.
Think outside your mental box for a moment. Of course we think of marriage as something parents do so they can have kids because they love each other. We also think in terms that marriages end up in divorce because that love dissipates. But a lot of things can happen outside of our institutional dogma when it comes to human nature. Did you know that about 40% of births are to unwed mothers? That taboo seems to be waning.
But marriage is simply the union of two things. We can marry things with glue; we can marry two things with a mechanical coupling. We can marry things like a horse and carriage. But, traditionally, we think of a marriage of a man and a woman with religious intonations and a civil contract because we were rarely exposed to any other way; until recently. Just like we rarely thought about miscegenation until it was determined that there was no basis for it; or sodomy laws for that matter when it seems to be pretty popular in different forms. We adhere to certain tenets, customs or preferences, because it was the predominate training we were raised with.
So we can have a marriage as the union of two people. But why does it have to be defined biblically as only between a man and a woman when there might be two people of the same sex willing to make the same commitment as two of different sexes? It’s not like we’re talking about a man and a mule (don’t go there). While there are other parts of the world and of other times and cultures that haven’t given the behavior a second thought; it seems that these unions of same sex couples have been acknowledged in other cultures for thousands of years when untethered to Judeo Christian ethics. Yet there are those who remain adamantly opposed to it for fear that it would be a departure from their ideological teachings. Kinda makes sense. You lose the tenets; you lose the flock; you lose the fellowship.
The display of affection is a human universal which is not limited to just between a man and a women because we happen to think in terms of heterosexual behavior. But it can also occur between two of the same sex because that behavior is just as normal as heterosexuality as determined by the American Psychiatric Assoc., and others. And since this display of affection is a human universal, it transcends any laws made to the contrary because of cult requirements as membership to a group. It may not be your style, but just because it isn’t, doesn’t mean that laws can be legislated to exclude other behaviors that don’t fit into our lifestyles or adhere to our religious dogma; particularly, when some religious dogma is arbitrarily exclusionary and divisive when science has found concrete discoveries to the contrary. Remember, we have Puritan roots.
So why should there be discrimination when it comes to same sex unions when there isn’t any between heterosexual and they’re both normal behaviors? They’re not abnormal just because some guys in bathrobes said it was 2500 years ago as part of a group’s founding story. Perhaps it’s this religious undertone that set the agenda? Religious dogma says that homosexual behavior is an abomination per Leviticus 18:22. Naturally the church has a conflict of interest. Why should they condone something they’re told to believe is abhorrent?
But it doesn’t mean they should continue to dictate the country’s legal system based on their exclusionary laws when, in our country, free of religious interference, and intrusion in government, all should be free to carry on in the pursuit of liberty and happiness; which should not be limited to heterosexuals or more confining yet, religious rules. Our civil laws should be free of religious dogma. What the church dictates should only apply to the members of that group if they so chose to be discriminatory within their own followers. But in this country, for one, our behaviors should be free of traditional religious dogma and respectful of human universals and human rights first. That’s the principle America was founded on; not as some will have you believe, some twisted, convoluted ideas of freedom for government with religion.
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