More on Gay Marriage

by Jason Stotts

There are two new news articles on gay marriage that are worth taking a look at.  The first is from the LA Times and is called “Gay Marriage Trial to Begin in California, Could Set Legal Precedent for Generations to Come.”  It details the importance of the trial over gay marriage here in CA and the precedence it could set for the rest of the country.

The case will decide a challenge to California’s gay marriage ban that was approved by voters in 2008, and the ruling will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. How the high court rules in the case could set the precedent for whether gay marriage becomes legal nationwide.

The second article is from Newsweek and is called “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage” by Theodore Olson, the lawyer who is arguing in favor of gay marriage on behalf of the defendants in the California gay marriage trial.  In it he makes his case for gay marriage and I find his arguments persuasive, even apart from my own views on the matter.  What is most interesting is that Olson is a staunch Conservative and is arguing that gay marriage should be a conservative value.  Unfortunately for Mr. Olson, he forgot that the christian god is in charge of the religious reich and their god hates gays.  Thus, his well reasoned arguments are going to fall on deaf ears in the majority of cases in that party.

I understand, but reject, certain religious teachings that denounce homosexuality as morally wrong, illegitimate, or unnatural; and I take strong exception to those who argue that same-sex relationships should be discouraged by society and law. Science has taught us, even if history has not, that gays and lesbians do not choose to be homosexual any more than the rest of us choose to be heterosexual. To a very large extent, these characteristics are immutable, like being left-handed. And, while our Constitution guarantees the freedom to exercise our individual religious convictions, it equally prohibits us from forcing our beliefs on others. I do not believe that our society can ever live up to the promise of equality, and the fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, until we stop invidious discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.


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