Love, love, love ... the happiest days of my life have been when falling in love ... emotion never soars higher than the first gentle sign that love is requited.
But love is not the concern of society and its institutions. Society has enough to do with keeping the barbarians from the gates, regulating commerce, enforcing laws, maintaining infrastructure, and the like. Society has no time to diddle-daddle with who loves whom. The institution of marriage IS a bedrock concern of society insofar as it encourages procreation, essential to survival. The institution of marriage was therefore created to consist of the union of a man and woman. Society doesn't inquire whether they love each other or not.
A man or a woman may choose to love someone of the same sex. Society takes no position on the matter. An issue only arises when two men, or two women, insist that they be accorded the right to marry. To allow this would fundamentally change the traditions of marriage, and society does have the right to take a position on that. There is every indication that out society opposes such change, and if necessary that could be settled by a vote.
Traditions are important regulators of a society and should only be changed for compelling reasons. For example, we have a tradition that our bodies should be clothed. Some, the naturists, prefer to go naked. No compelling reason has yet been presented for us to change our tradition about clothing simply because some among us have a different preference.
Sexual orientation is just another matter of preference. It does not stand on the same ground as race or ethnicity (which are immutable human attributes) as an issue in equality of marriage rights.
There is no compelling reason for a change in the institution of marriage. Men can love men, and women can love women, with no interference from society. No case can be made for marital discrimination against gays because they enjoy exactly the same rights concerning marriage as all other citizens (namely the right to marry someone of the opposite sex).
I think gays should stop pushing the marriage issue. If there are tangential and mundane benefits of marriage that gays are missing out on, such as tax treatment, these can readily be afforded through the civil union concept, to which I am not opposed. |
