On NPR, on my way home, I heard a story about how Catholics are up in arms in some city (can't remember which; DC maybe?) because the city is considering passing some sort of law that would guarantee benefits to same-sex partners of government employees. Catholics are up in arms about this because of the work Catholic charities do with the government; they might have to give their employees these benefits, and that's a sin! It compromises their beliefs to offer these benefits, dammit. Also, the spokesperson (bishop? charity chief? Dunno.) said something like this: this is just proof of the erosion, in society, of marriage and the family.
Errr, what? I mean, I know people make this argument all the time, but isn't the fact that people WANT to get married and form families kind of proof of exactly the opposite? I understand that these people believe that marriage = one man + one woman, blah blah blah. But isn't the fact that people are lining up to do this in places where it becomes legal counting for anything? People believe in marriage! You're just a bigot!
And that's what I really think: people who are "fighting for marriage" and fighting to keep gays from marrying are actually fighting for the rights to be bigots. If we're concerned about marriage, then we should be doing everything in our power to encourage ALL people to get married, regardless of what consenting adult they're choosing to marry. Sigh.
I'm not saying I think we should be encouraging people to get married. I couldn't care less whether people feel they need to get married or not; it's their choice. Except it's not, and that's the problem.
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