A Rip in the Moral Fabric of the Country

I try to watch the news to keep up on the latest events of the world. Sometimes it is just downright depressing--wars, disasters, deaths, and so many other bad things. In the year 2006, you would think that we would be progressing and moving forward in our thoughts and views on the world around us. You would think that as we become more exposed to the diverse world around us we would become more accepting of our differences. All of this might be true for the majority people in the world and in our country, but sometimes you can't help but stand in disbelief with how so many things seem to be regressing rather than progressing. I always thought that Constitutional amendments were written to bring us forward and to bring everyone together in some semblance of equality. What is one to think when they hear that a few politicians and lawmakers want to create a Constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage? What is one to think when the rights of certain people are restricted or eliminated completely? We're considered the "leaders of the free world" (a fancy phrase for saying "we are imperialists and want to swallow the rest of the world in our empire"), but why are we restricting rights that have been granted in other countries such as The Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Spain, and South Africa? Since the early days of the history of this country, people have come here with the old dream of seeking freedom. So why are so many freedoms taken away?

I hear the arguments, and they are simply insulting and disgusting. You hear the catch phrases like "sanctity of marriage" and arguments that same-sex marriage would undermine the "institution" of marriage. Then there are the most extreme arguments spewed by the most ignorant of the human race with claims such as, "if you allow gays to marry, what's next? people marrying dogs and other animals?" Everyone knows how ridiculous that sounds.

My question is, who, really, is being harmed when two people of the same sex get married? No one else is affected. No one is physically harmed. No one is financially harmed. How does this hurt anyone? A straight couple getting married in Nebraska has absolutely no impact or influence over my or anyone else's life outside of their friends and family. How will that same couple, or any other couple, be affected if somewhere two people of the same sex get married? And why should this same-sex couple not be entitled to the same rights and privileges as the straight couple?

These are all of the obvious political and social questions. But just consider the human aspect of this. Consider the emotional aspect. Love is love. The love one man may feel for another man or the love a woman can feel for another woman can be just as strong and just as intense as the love felt between a man and a woman. The traditional vows of "to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part" means the same thing to a same-sex couple as it does to a straight couple. Marriage is not about gender or sexual orientation. Marriage is the union of two hearts and two souls.