Same-Sex Marriage

A huge issue across the world right now is that of same-sex marriage. In countries all over the world there has been debate over whether we should allow people of the same-sex to get married. And the results at the moment are disturbing. Last month voters in North Carolina voted FOR a constitutional amendment defining marriage solely as a union between one man and one woman. This made NC the 30th state to openly ban same-sex marriage. Today in the UK the Church of England has spoken out against gay marriage which the government have been proposing should go ahead. Currently in the UK you can have a “civil partnership” which as I understand is a marriage in everything but name and legal status. 

Here’s a section from BBC News about what the Church of England has said:

The Church of England said by opening marriage to gay couples, an institution defined for centuries to be exclusively between a man and a woman would have its meaning "hollowed out" and reduced to the level of a "content free", "consumerist", agreement.

The irony here is ridiculous given the timing of this. On this very day in 1509 King Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. As every good history student knows Henry decided he wanted a divorce but as the Catholic church wouldn’t allow it he set up the Church of England. So the CofE was set up specifically for the purpose of a divorce. So this organisation against redefining marriage was set up specifically to redefine marriage.

I am in no way an expert in the religious side of things but as far as I can tell the majority, if not all, of the “homosexuality is a sin” bit, is in the Old Testament. Now this comes largely down to religious beliefs but most people do not take most of the Old Testament literally. The modern viewpoint is generally that it is a series of stories which are a guidance on how to live your life. Much of it can be kind of considered irrelevant. But isn’t it odd how these bits are often taken unquestioningly. Let’s not forget this is a document which is extraordinarily old when people’s viewpoints where different. Jesus himself wandered around with 12 guys all the time. And can you imagine Jesus returning to Earth and telling gay people to stop being gay and he will forgive them. I know I’m not religious but if I was I would think Jesus would happily accept people being homosexual.

But fine (I say fine but I don’t mean fine), if religious groups are too stubborn and/or stupid to allow gay marriage then we can manage without them. When/if I eventually get married it’s extremely unlikely that it will be in a church. For one thing I was never christened so I’m not entirely sure it would be allowed anyway. But not being religious it would be a sham to get married in a religious ceremony. Straight people get married in registry offices and all sorts of weird places (caves, beaches etc) so there’s no reason gay marriage couldn’t happen alongside these things.

I do wonder quite why gay people have been picked upon so much. I think it’s the traditional human fear of the unknown. This is largely think is what causes racism but that’s a relatively minor issue these days compared to what it used to be. In the majority of the world people have equal rights no matter what their race. But yet gay people do not. I can sort of understand an initial fear of other races at the time when races just did not mix but homosexuality is not a new thing. All sorts of famous people were gay, or at least there is strong evidence to suggest they were. For example: Alexander the Great, Emperor Hadrian, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky, Oscar Wilde, E.M Forster, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke and countless overs. It can’t be denied that all of those people did incredible things regardless of their sexuality.  And that’s kind of the point of my argument. Being gay makes you no worse than any other person. Loving someone is always a good thing, it doesn’t matter whether they are the same sex or not. In a world where heterosexual marriages can last only a few days and divorce rates are higher than ever, how can it be argued that same-sex marriage ruins the sanctity of it?

It would be nice to think that within the next couple of years gay marriage would become a common sight across the world but it seems unlikely. I hope though that my generation can see past the issues our forebears have and will be one day able to make a world which is much closer to being truly equal. By all means insert your own opinion in the comments section and I will discuss them in a post at a later date.

I think I’ll end with a few funny but still with serious messages, placards that have been held up to support gay marriage and/or gay rights. We just can’t have a world without people like this!