First of all Kei, you are awesome.

More broadly, I agree with the points you've made here.

There's one fundamental contradiction about gay marriage opponents that bothers me though.

In a pluralistic, democratic society, we advocate this idea that people can do what they like so long as they are not hurting/affecting others. And specifically in terms of religion, we are often told that religious views should not be "pushed" or "forced" on any members of society.

In fact, religious people often complain if their activities are encroached upon, on the basis that "we are just practicing our religion and we shouldn't be interfered with" (I agree, to some extent).

The problem is that this philosophy isn't applied evenly. I might totally disagree with someone who only eats a certain type of food for religious reasons - does that mean I have the right to FORCE them to eat things that violate their religion? No.

So why can't gay people be afforded the same respect in return?

Gay marriage doesn't hurt anyone or take away anything from others. If you're married and your two gay friends get married, it doesn't at all diminish your marriage. It's a separate issue - none of your business.

I am bothered by this constant contradiction, if only because it's so obvious and yet so many people still advocate this ridiculous position.

Anyway I could go on forever, but Kei, you put this more succinctly than I could. It's great to see some Americans who really can see through the dogma and who are prepared to engage in some pure logic and fairness on this question.

I'm with you on this. I support the rights of people to marry whomever they love. There is nothing that should prevent them from doing so. They aren't harming anyone, the sky isn't falling around our heads. I also take issue with kids being taught to hate, which goes into yet another issue of protecting the rights of kids to grow up being able to make their own decisions and determine their own views about the world rather than just having the opinions of their parents, be they right or wrong, to be automatically implanted.

Mmm... I'm going to have to echo Gome's sentiment and say the "drilled into their heads" bit came off a tad on the offensive side. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, you were just on a rant. (And now that I see your reply to Gome, I see I was right on that. lol)

I can only speak about this from a Christian perspective myself, but... well, it's not that easy for us either. I was never blatantly told growing up that "lol gays r bad" and I just went with it and said "lol k". Although admittedly I was more ignorant about things when I was younger, I went through a rather painful process where I was critically thinking on homosexuals and how I should view them. In the end, the decision I personally came to was that anyone who's gay is a person, just like me. If homosexuality is indeed a sin, then they're still just like me, 'cause I'm not exempt from that either.

Also, if you have a link or anything to that study about being born with your sexual preference, please pass it on to me. I'm interested to see it.

@:

"Also, please don't assume that all religious types have that "drilled" into their head. I know quite a few religious people that don't really agree with homosexuality, but they support gay rights and all that. [I have three bisexual friends and two gay acquaintances, myself.]"

It was wrong of me to phrase it that way. I apologize. I also know of people that support gay rights that are religious. I have them in my family, no less. (I also have several openly gay cousins and my father's side of the family is heavily Christian, so.)

And no, I wasn't meaning to offend anyone. I apologize if it did.

The way I see it is that I am not gay (at least, that I know of) and therefore shall not be participating in a same-sex marriage anytime soon, making it so that I really don't care about the whole thing. However, I also understand that what is right for me isn't exactly right for everyone else. (I've been mistaken for gay though... which has elicited many reactions throughout the years anywhere from apathy to rage because they won't shut up.)

I'm Catholic, which should mean that I too have been pounded into thinking that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transvestites are evil. To be frank, I couldn't care less. Their business is their business and as long as it does not infringe on my rights and safety, then it's cool. The only gays I have problems with are the "Gay Power" people, who are just as annoying as any other Minority Power group because they're jerk-ass supremacists who are just making everyone else look bad, no matter what ethnic/religious/social/whatever group they're in. We're all people, which some can't see long enough to stop complaining. *sighs*

...but to stick up for today's youth (as if they deserve it or anything =_='), the term "gay" seems to be changing as far as the main usage in American lexicon. Now it seems like those silly high-school boys/young adult men are using "gay" to mean stupid or pointless, without any seemingly hard feelings towards the homosexual community. This wouldn't be the first time the meaning of "gay" has been changed due to a bunch of people using the term in a different way... it's just the first time where it was changed in a manner originally intending to be degrading... I guess. Doesn't make calling anything "gay" that isn't right, but you have to take into consideration the individuals using the terms aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawers (I'm thinking they're more like spoons). I do have the tendency to ask people about how they know inanimate objects have a sexuality though... which usually shuts them up. Most of these kids are just copycats and the connotation is lost on them, similar to how North American anime fans don't know the awful backstory/tones surrounding the term "otaku" and therefore use it freely. Would they still use the term to describe themselves if they knew that for many Japanese it was used to describe a pedophilia-loving murderer? Probably not; connotation is a very tricky thing, even within the same language.

It really sucks that we have to deal with stuff like this, it does, but part of life is dealing with the crap other people give. No matter who we are, there will always be someone out there to call us names and make fun of some aspect about us. It's not fair, but it's life. Historically speaking, homosexuality has been quite prevalent and commonplace/less taboo in the past; right now it's just going through a bit of a hiccup.