Social Talk: Gay Marriage in America

By Andrae Smith · Jun 28, 2015 · ·
  1. Gay marriage legalized in the United States, huh? This has made a great many people very happy, and many unaffected parties are very excited. Many people are upset by this given their position on homosexuality or their religious views. As for me, I am glad equality under social order and law is being recognized for a substantial group of people who will love or lie just that same as anyone.

    Many are arguing and will continue to argue that homosexuality is wrong for this reason or that (be it religious, or grounded in some other research). That's fine, it is their understanding. Many are arguing that gay marriage is illegitimate due to religious definitions. Fair enough. Marriage has long been held as a religious ceremony, with many couples marrying in a religious institution in accordance with their faiths, believing their vows ordained by their vision of God. Historically and culturally, marriage has maintained a level of religiosity.

    However, what people forget is that marriage has also been considered a business engagement between two families. In some cultures the woman is given to the man's family with a dowry for taking her into his home with the promise that he will love, protect, and provide for her. In others, the man has had to buy his wife. In many cases, royal families married their sons and daughters for political matters. Furthermore, marriage has a social context alongside (and even outside of) it's religious one, making it viable that people today can be married under a social institution without religious pretense.

    In the U.S. - as shady, backwards, and false as things can be here - there is this a pretense known as "separation of church and state." This means that the gov't has no religious affiliation and shall protect the rights of the people and act without religious bias. Moreover, this means that no state entity should try to define or legitimize marital status by any religious conceptualization and should honor the right of two people seeking that social status. Any decision that marriage should be one man and one woman is practically arbitrary, as gender and sex are no indicators of a persons ability to fulfill their spousal role and uphold the social contract.

    What I'm getting at is this: Regardless of anyone's personal views on homosexuality, the state is obligated to protect the right of the people indiscriminately. That does not mean churches should be forced to hold weddings and ministers should be obligated to officiate. It just means that the gov't recognizes and extends this social status equally and unbiasedly to all people in the legal sense. With that understanding, it does not matter what anyone believes. It doesn't matter if you approve of homosexuality or if I think it's unnatural (for argument's sake). Nobody is asking that question. The question is whether an entire social group is considered equal to the rest of us under state law. Finally, the definitive answer is 'Yes.'

    And to those who are offended by the decision and feel like this devalues the very concept of marriage to date, stop making it about you. Turn off the ego-mind, let go of who you think you are, and look at the world around you. So much more is going on than what you think marriage is. The sacredness of marriage comes from two souls coming together in the presence of existence and vowing to cherish and uplift each other. For the spiritual person, this understanding brings reverence to marriage that the state is not obligated (nor expected) to acknowledge - it is personal. People who marry for the "wrong reasons" or out of "poor understanding" (in your eyes or mine) still deserve the right to do so.

    These are my thoughts. With that, I'll leave the hype alone. Congrats to all those who stand to benefit from this overdue decision. If only such decisive action could be taken concerning the anti-black sentiment perforating from the very pores of this country. (No offense to the loving people not involved in the hatred. Nothin' but love for ya.)

    ‪#‎SharingLove‬ ‪#‎SaringThoughts‬ ‪#‎Namaste‬ ‪#‎Hetepu‬

Comments

  1. DeathandGrim
    You speak truth
      Andrae Smith likes this.
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