Relationships are what's sacred, not the marriage - Political ...

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Federal judge's ruling exposes ridiculous notions about the effects of legalizing same-sex marriage

Last Friday, Nov. 30, the Supreme Court of the United States was supposed to decide which of 10 cases related to same-sex marriage it would hear, if any. Among those were cases related to DOMA and California's Proposition 8, which would have made only marriage between a man and a woman legal in that state if it hadn't been ruled unconstitutional. SCOTUS decided to postpone that decision for a week, but a judge in Nevada has handed down a ruling that makes his opinion on the matter clear.

Federal Judge Robert C. Jones determined that the US Constitution does not "[prohibit] the People of the State of Nevada from maintaining statutes that reserve the institution of civil marriage to one-man-one-woman relationships." Essentially, this means that Nevada has the authority to ban recognition of non-straight marriages. Part of his justification for the ruling is that denying same-sex couples the right to marry was constitutional "because the maintenance of the traditional institution of civil marriage as between one man and one woman is a legitimate state interest."

So what exactly is it about same-sex marriage that makes it constitutional for the state to meddle in the love lives of couples seeking to formalize their relationships? What dangers would the state government be protecting us from by stopping up its ears and shouting "lalalalala, you're not really married" to every gay and lesbian couple in Nevada?

Nothing less than the extinction of the human race.

That's maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but Jones does say that "The perpetuation of the human race depends upon traditional procreation between men and women," and then goes on to predict that if the marriages of same-sex couples become legally recognized, straight people would no longer value the institution highly. The result of such a dire change in perception would be "an increased percentage of out-of-wedlock children, single-parent families, difficulties in property disputes after the dissolution of what amount to common law marriages in a state where such marriages are not recognized, or other unforeseen consequences."

I can only imagine that those other unforeseen consequences involve things like human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together and mass hysteria. The statement would not have been any less ludicrous if he had filled it with such predictions.

This is where we're at right now in this particular civil rights battle. Opponents of same-sex marriage can't come up with sane reasons why it poses a threat, so they are forced to invent absolutely bizarre ones. The situation that Jones predicated his ruling on is one in which I, as a straight man, meet a wonderful woman, fall in love and then decide to abandon the relationship because Adam and Steve from next door were married last week.

The entirety of my ability -- and that of other straight men and women -- to form loving, long-term relationships is, according to Jones, completely determined by who else around me is getting married. In his little world, straight people care more about the institution of marriage than they do about the people they're marrying.

Marriage has never been about what the neighbors are doing. It's about a commitment between two people to love and cherish each other, and it's insulting to hear some judge say that he doesn't think I'll be capable of doing that if we as a nation suddenly acknowledge that there are same-sex couples who love and cherish each other as well.

The institution of marriage provides a means to an end, not the end itself. It's a way of formalizing a relationship, and it should be the relationship that's sacred to the couple, not the ceremony or the rings or the license. Marriage is a very important step for many people, but the reasons for taking such a step don't change just because others are suddenly granted the ability to do the same.

Source: http://www.politicalinfomercial.org/2012/12/relationships-are-whats-sacred-not-the-marriage/

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