A Young Adult’s Declarative Analysis of Proposition 8

Proposition 8

Yes or no.

It’s always interesting when words possess enough power to incite crowds, change lives, and create large social divides. Every day on my drive home from work, the same trek home that many of you make, the streets are littered with protesters holding yellow and blue signs; one representing ignorant intolerance, and the other symbolizing open-minded acceptance. Whether the people on either side are consistent with these representations, or whether they are just coerced by the mob mentality of the side closest to their beliefs, we’ll never know.

Personally, I am voting no on proposition 8. Is it because I love men sucking dick? No. Is it because I love scissor-me-timbers? Maybe. The reason I am voting no is because I love human beings. Sure, homosexual love-making makes me as uncomfortable as the next guy but no matter how you spin it, going out of your way to deny a group of people who are exactly the same as you except behind closed doors, the same rights that you have, is a strong statement of intolerance. Because I try to look at most things from both perspectives, I did some research to see some of the reasons behind voting yes on Prop 8;

1) It ruins the sanctity of marriage.

According to 2008 research by The Barna Group a leading researcher on marriage statistics, 4 in 5 of us will be married at least once, while 1 in 3 of us will be divorced at least once. A staggering 33% of all married couples will INEVITABLY be divorced.

“There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage,” Barna indicated. “Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, but are not particularly optimistic about that possibility.

I won’t make any implications here, just let the data settle. Now, what exactly constitutes the “sanctity” of a marriage anyway? Does a Las Vegas shotgun wedding done by Elvis fall under that category? What about a wedding atop the mountains of Hawaii? Should we ban those types of weddings too because they don’t fall in line with traditional beliefs?

2) The bible says it’s not natural.

In 1966, a trial judge decided that Richard Loving and his African-American wife violated the state law that banned interracial marriage. In the trial judge’s opinion on the case, he stated,

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

Does that sort of logic sound familiar in the arguments used today against same-sex marriages?

Without getting into a whole religious debate, let’s just take a moment to consider that perhaps religion is not as much a reason to oppose proposition 8 as it is an excuse. As a spiritual and moral guide, religion is wonderful, but if you are going to be intolerant of homosexuals because of the bible, than you should not steal music, engage in any kind of sexual acts before marriage, or divorce (refer to previous statistics). Now seeing as how an overwhelming majority of the religious engage in those behaviors and somehow justify it to themselves, can’t the same leniency and tolerance be offered towards others?

3) They’ll teach it to our kids in school!

Let’s be honest, what part of marriage do you remember being taught about in school that wasn’t from your parents or pop culture? The only educational curriculum change that will occur if proposition 8 passes is that religious schools will educate their children about how wrong and sacrilegious the bill is.

Now take a long hard look at those three reasons for supporting prop 8. Are they reason enough to justify denying basic rights to a large group of people? If your answer is still yes, please share and help me to understand why it is.

Sure, our nation was founded on certain beliefs and traditions, but like every great entity, we must evolve and adapt to stay afloat in a rapidly-changing world. Don’t stick to age-old traditions just because they are tradition. As humans, we have the unique ability to think, critique, question, and IMPROVE. And consider this; your undying loyalty to tradition probably makes gay marriage annoy you, but that same loyalty will cause deep pain to another group of human beings who are just slightly different than you. Vote NO on proposition 8!