Things that Make No Sense to Me

I freely admit to being swept up in Obamania. I voted for Barack Obama when he ran for senate in my former home state of Illinois, and I still consider him my senator. (Bob Corker? Not so much.)

But the more I listen to him, the more fed up I get with his clear homophobia. (Look, Barack. Teh Gay is not a disease. You're not going to catch it!) Oh sure, compared to the antediluvian
who technically represents me now, Senator Obama is positively forward-thinking. But here's what I don't get.

In the debate the other night, Senators Edwards and Obama, both of whom are known to oppose gay marriage, were asked how they could justify using their religious beliefs to oppose gay marriage, when people used the same justification for opposing interracial marriage. Here's the clip:




I thought that John Edwards gave a fairly satisfactory answer. Basically, although he is personally opposed to gay marriage, he would not want to use his religious beliefs to prevent people from having equal rights. Of course that's not the answer I would want to hear, but it's better than what you would hear from any of the Republicans.

But Barack Obama's answer made me very angry. He said that the civil unions he proposed would confer all the rights that the states grant to heterosexual couples to homosexual couples. (Okay, sounds suspiciously "separate but equal," but better than nothing.) But his next statement sent my blood pressure skyrocketing. He said that it's up to individual churches to decide whether to recognize these relationships as marriages or not!

Look, people, I'll say it one last time. If heterosexual atheists can have legally recognized marriages, then homosexual couples of any religious persuasion should also be allowed to legally marry. Here's why. If the state recognizes marriages between atheists, then marriage is not a religious institution in the eyes of the state. Therefore, whatever religious objections there may be to the union of two individuals are not relevant to the legality of their marriage.

If your church opposes same-sex marriage, fine. They will never be required to perform same-sex marriages. Just like they will never be required to perform atheist marriages. After all, that would go against the principles of religious freedom upon which this country was built!

But like your church deserves to be separate from the state, the state needs to be separate from the church. That's why I can support marriage equality without fearing that it infringes upon anybody's rights.