The biggest buzz so far seems to be that this occurred during a Republican-controlled State Senate. While I do find that interesting, and even encouraging, from a certain perspective, I'd like to use this opportunity to focus on a quote that I heard during an interview of the various celebrants. One man, who has been with his partner for ten years and has adopted children, was quoted as saying, "Marriage isn't something that we thought we needed to hold our family together, but it's certainly something that we feel we deserve and are happy about."
I really admire this man for saying what should be obvious to all of us. Love is not defined or even validated by the government or religion. Some people choose to express their love through certain ceremonies, but in the end, if two people love each other it really doesn't matter what the government says or what your priest/rabbi/pastor says. I'm not saying that I don't think gay marriage should be legal, because I am 100% behind legislation which allows it, and the fact that gay couples are not afforded the same tax benefits as straight couples makes me wonder what decade we are living in. However, "marriage" is just a word, or in some cases, a recognition of two people's love by an outside party.
I've always felt it to be ridiculous that this debate even occurs in our society today. That's not to say that I don't understand why it occurs, I just don't understand why people can't seem to realize that gay marriage is not going to destroy the world. Beyond that, it isn't even going to destroy culture or religion. I don't understand what Christians are so afraid of. Churches are private organizations - they are not required to perform a gay marriage if they don't want to. Will god destroy the world because of gay marriage? I'm still not convinced that the Bible condemns homosexuality in the first place, and there are some Christians that would agree with me. Would Jesus really want us to persecute a minority group through politics?
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