Same Sex Marriage Is Inevitable And You’ll Be Fine

 
Ireland is the latest country to legalize same sex marriage nationwide. They should be applauded. While I respect objections to same-sex marriage in the U.S., I just don’t see them as having any basis in the law. Like Justice Kennedy, I see most of them as being rooted in animus towards gay people. Again, I am on the record as being accepting of people’s personal racism, sexism and homophobia; however, I am not accepting of infringing upon people’s rights due to those beliefs.
 

Bestiality and Pedophilia

The fact this gets invoked by opponents is more proof of a lot of the opposition to same sex marriage being rooted in animus. Marriage is a legal agreement between consenting adults, so all concerns about eventual marriages of animals, children, and inanimate objects are silly, and might I add hilarious as well. Restricting people’s civil rights is not funny mind you, but this reasoning to is.
 

Civil Unions

“Separate but equal” is unconstitutional. Civil unions do not provide as many protections and rights as marriage licenses do, and there is no legal reason to restrict the word “marriage” to opposite-sex couples. This is also funny to me as it shows how the dynamic has changed. I remember when there was vehement objection to civil unions, but now they are acceptable to opponents. This shows why it is important in any movement to continue to apply pressure.
 

Weddings vs. Marriages

Churches can perform wedding rituals and hold members accountable to ethical codes regarding family life, but weddings and marriages are different things. A marriage is a legal agreement between consenting adults, licensed by the government and documented in public records, requiring only witnesses to a signature. A person may choose to have a minister be one of those witnesses, but no ritual is required for that marriage to be legal.
 
Our government does not enforce Biblical laws as we are not a theocracy in spite of what many want or believe. We are free to live in accordance with our religious beliefs, but they are not relevant to public policy governing marriage licensing, because our freedom of religion is not threatened by other people’s marriages.
 

Marriage Licenses

They do not require participants to declare their sexual orientation or sexual preference, so objections to same-sex marriage based on sexual orientation are invalid. This also includes speculation of whether sexuality is a “choice.” Marriage licenses do not require proof of sexual activity, so objections to same-sex marriage based on opinions about sexual activity are also invalid.
 
Marriage licenses do not depend on health history, so objections to same-sex marriage based on an applicant’s medical history are invalid. No marriage license requires an intent or ability to procreate, so objections to same-sex marriage based on procreation is invalid. Marriage licenses do not require belief in any god, so objections to same-sex marriage based on what you believe a god prefers are invalid.
 

States

States don’t have rights, individual people do. The Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is very clear: unless specifically enumerated otherwise, the U.S. Constitution privileges individual liberty over the actions of any level of government. Marriage is not an enumerated power of any level of government which means marriage is allowed to consenting adults, and sex discrimination for any government license is unlawful according to the Fourteenth Amendment.
 
If a woman can legally marry you but a man cannot, those two people do not have equal rights. Marriage has been recognized as a civil right in our nation by Supreme Court rulings since the 1800s. Civil rights are not subject to majority vote by “the will of the people” in this nation, and federal courts are empowered to overturn unconstitutional laws. A lot of this is civics.

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