Gay Marriage an issue of basic human rights and respect

Gay marriage an issue of basic human rights and respect
By: Alicia Mullins
Posted: 10/4/07
I don't consider myself an extremely opinionated person about a lot of things. When there are debates going on about pro-this and anti-that, I usually just stay out of it. There is one issue, however, that I do feel strongly about. That issue is gay marriage.

I see marriage as a basic human right. Put simply, an adult should be able to marry another adult of their choosing and, in so doing, they should be able to have all the same rights as any other married pair, regardless of gender. It's a conclusion I've come to easily and, to be frank, it shocks and deeply offends me that any other conclusion could be come to. Especially in the year 2007.

There are a wide variety of reasons I've heard to keep marriage off limits to gay- and lesbian-identified people and each of these reasons are weak in merit. Overwhelmingly, the main reason I hear is that the institution of marriage will somehow be cheapened if gays are allowed to be a part of it.

I don't buy it. When people tell me that they are worried about the sanctity of their sacred institution, all I can do is laugh. If these people were really worried about the institution of marriage becoming less respectable, they would be organizing picket lines outside of quickie marriage chapels in Las Vegas making sure inebriated 20-somethings weren't marrying strangers. And with divorce rates being around 50 percent or more, I'd say gays wanting to get hitched is the last thing they should be worrying about.

I've also seen a lot of people manipulating the words of the Bible to back up their beliefs. What these people fail to acknowledge is that religion and marriage are in completely separate realms. Sure, people can exchange vows in a church and in front of a priest to make their personal marriages a religious affair, but when it comes to deciding which two people are allowed to get a marriage license at a town hall, religion has to be left at the door.

The separation of church and state aside, when the Bible was written, relationships between people of the same sex had a completely different meaning. It meant prostitution and grown men having sex with young boys. The idea of a monogamous relationship between two consenting adults of the same sex didn't exist back then. The Bible has a completely different definition of homosexuality than what "gay" has come to mean in our society today. Gay rights have come a long way since then, especially in the past 50 years. To use the words of the bBible to keep gays from having marriage rights is essentially implying that gay people today can be described by those same archaic definitions, which is grossly inaccurate and insulting.

If we want marriage in this country to be something respectable again, we should leave more doors opened for people who love each other to be a part of it. We are a society that is supposed to celebrate how diverse we are, not one that puts up blockades around our institutions. Gays are being treated like second-class citizens because they don't have the same rights as everyone else. I hope I'm not the only one who has a huge problem with that.

Alicia Mullins is a fourth-year women's studies major.
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