As Seen On The Bathroom Wall

Proposition 8 passed in California on Nov.5, 2008.

Gay marriage has, for now, been put to a halt and the 15,000 some odd marriages that occurred between May and up until the election are now in limbo.

That's over 30,000 people whose lives are being used as pawns in some ridiculous game of keep-away that I, for one, do not understand.

What exactly is gay marriage to those whom oppose it? What does it prevent them from doing? What right does it strip away from them?

The answer is simple: Nothing.

Oh sure, the arguments that line up might sound compelling-even humorous. If two men can marry each other, why can't I marry my cat? God hates fags, he says so in Deuteronomy. It's an abomination.

And yes, these ARE the standard responses that you get from those opposed to gay-rights. I'm not pulling them out of my ass. Go and take a gander at youtube and watch all of the speeches, the protests, the rants by those whom supported Prop-8. Read the blogs, the forums, the chatroom excerpts. It would be much better if this were fiction, and simply a novel we were reading, but the sad truth is that it's not.

Yes, the people whom would tell you that animals are not people-they're food-are the ones equating human beings to cats, dogs, and so on. Mighty convenient for them, don't you think?

Yes, the people whom would tell you that God calls lying with a man as one would lie with a woman an abomination in Deuteronomy are the exact same ones who tell you that they can eat pork and lobster and wear poly-cotton blends because Jesus got rid of all of the old rules.

The individuals whom would tell you that they are trying to protect the "sanctity" of marriage are the ones whose second wives just found out about the third mistress.

The individuals whom would take away the rights of others are the very ones who were themselves prosecuted not to long ago after having their rights denied them. And I'm not just talking about Jim Crow laws that prevented interracial couples from marrying. I'm also talking about groups like the Mormons, who were chased from state to state and persecuted for practicing their religious beliefs, and who had to alter their way of faith in order to be able to practice at all. Those two groups were some of the largest backers of Prop-8, which seems hypocritical, if only the irony weren't so palpable.

Love doesn't have a color. It doesn't have a sex. It exists because it is one of the few emotions that we're all capable of feeling, all capable of receiving, and all capable of expressing. We might not do it in the same way, we might not feel it for the same people, but it is there nonetheless, and we cannot deny others of it simply because we may not understand it.

For those that claim that pedophiles will be fighting to marry children now as a result of this push for gays to marry, let me remind you that states such as California and Kentucky, two polar opposites on the political and religious playing field of life, both had laws on their books that had NO minimum age requirement to get married. Pedophiles didn't write those laws.

For those that claim that their heterosexual marriages won't mean anything if homosexuals are allowed to marry, I suggest you question what your marriage was based on if the structure of some stranger's marriage can affect yours so profoundly in such a negative way.

For those that claim that marriage is only for procreation, perhaps it is for people like the Duggars, but for those whom suffer from fertility problems, or who simply don't want children, you invalidate their marriages, many of which have lasted far longer than those with children.

And finally, though it probably shouldn't need to be stated, how a government views marriage is different than how a church, synagogue, or anything along the religious order views a marriage. Marriage is a legal contract between two people as far as the government is concerned. Any and all legal responsibilities that are created during said marriage fall upon the married parties. Religion should play no part in who can and cannot get married with regards to the law. If they choose to not allow homosexual marriages in their churches and so on, so be it. I refused to get married in a church myself for all of the hypocrisy and bigotry that can be found beneath its roof, and I'm fairly certain that many of the people that I know whom are gay, and whom would like to get married, would agree that they'd rather not taint the beginning of their marital union with such negativity.

A man and a woman can get married in this country after following strict rules in each state. A man and a man should as well, as should a woman and another woman. Their being allowed to marry doesn't weaken my union with my husband, but rather strengthens it, because the sacrifices that some have had to make just to be able to say "I DO" is not something that I should, or would take for granted. I had the luxury of getting married because I happen to have been born attracted to men. Had it been the other way around, I'd be left where so many individuals in California are now: In limbo.

The Catholics, after all their centuries of stodginess, are doing away with such an archaic notion. Why can't we?