Fighting against Equality….just doesn’t make sense.

What motivates one to fight so hard against basic equality? It’s difficult to comprehend, but sadly, it shouldn’t be. People fought against racial equality. People fought against gender equality. I guess, in a twisted sense, it should be expected that people fight against equality for LGBT people.

An interesting article by Joe Mathews appeared in the Washington Post today, which caused me to think more about this topic. He writes about the many possible outcomes of the recent California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. Because of California’s govern-by-ballot-measure style, groups can attempt to ban same sex marriage over and over again through ballot initiatives. What motivates these people to fight so hard against basic equalities?

I hope they would all sit down and take a few moments to ponder the lives of Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. These two lesbians, both in their 80’s, are partners who have been fighting for equal rights since the 1950s! Could someone please explain to me how this couple could possibly ruin heterosexual marriages? I cannot think of one reason.

I gather that most opposing arguments will be rooted in religion. Not being a religious man, I may not be fully equipped to engage in a religious debate about equality, but I do have some sense of things. Religion should fill your heart with love, it should teach you empathy, it should teach you to treat others with respect and it should teach you to leave your judgments behind. Following these 4 basic principles, one might think the religious arguments were pro-gay…..how foolish one would be.

Moving back to the article, Smith made me wonder about one of his points. He argues that now that gay marriage is legal, and if the ballot initiative in November fails, religious institutions could file a lawsuit to prevent themselves from having to recognize the marriages of their homosexual employees. These religious institutions include schools, health centers, etc. The argument would be that marriage equality infringed on their religious freedoms. In my mind, if religious freedom allows you to deny benefits to employees who marry someone of the same sex, could religious freedom also allow a school or a health center to deny marriage benefits to a spouse who committed adultery? If the basis for denying benefits is that the religious institution simply disagrees with your actions, it would seem that there would be many people being denied their benefits.

Other than that, the article was insightful and well worth the read.

In honor of Tim, I have a simple message to the above mentioned lesbian couple. Go get ‘em P. L. and D. M.