As we move closer to another election, President Obama must try to defend his opposition to marriage
equality. Vice President Biden’s supportive
comments about gay marriage this week only highlight the president’s failure to
support same-sex marriage, though he does support civil unions and rightly
worked to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Very often, opposition to same-sex marriage comes from the religious
right. Obama’s hesitancy to
support marriage equality even as it becomes more politically popular seems to
indicate similarly grounded objections.
Given the trends in popular opinion and politicians’ tendency to shift
with it, it’s surprising that Ron Paul is the only Republican or Democratic presidential
candidate who says marriage should be legal for everyone, regardless of
sexual orientation.
Libertarians
like Paul offer a fresh perspective by asking the same question they always
do: Wait, why is the government
involved in this at all? As
religious objectors to gay marriage always remind us, our founders emphasized
separation of Church and State. Throughout most of history, people saw marriage as a religious institution, and because their religious leaders and texts opposed homosexuality, gay marriage usually wasn’t even up for debate. And that’s exactly why Americans
deserve marriage equality now. Our
country has grown, not just in size, but also in religious diversity. Today we have plenty of religious
groups that want to marry gays, and they should be allowed to. The institution of marriage is not
trademarked by one or two major religions, or even by Religion in general—after
all, no one opposes atheists getting married.
Civil
unions would remedy some of the prejudice in the system, like the tax benefit
inequality, but they wouldn’t take care of underlying issue. For many of us, “the pursuit of
happiness” involves love and marriage.
Civil unions aren’t good enough, because the government shouldn’t get to
decide when you’re happy enough.
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