Kasey Pena
English 101
Bleck
6/5/09

Gay Marriage

Deciding whether or not gay men and women should be able to legally marry has been a hot button issue for many years now. Many people feel this goes against what God wants. Not everyone sees everything, but these men and women are not harming anyone or breaking the law by living the way they do. Deciding just how much authority the government can have over an individual is hard to determine, and the subject of gay marriage is great example. In John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty he writes about the government’s power. “If an action only indirectly affects society without violating any fixed obligation, then the inconvenience is one which society can afford to bear for the sake of the greater good of human freedom” (103). Mill isn’t the only one who thinks people needs to live their life, in a Newsweek article “Our Mutual Joy” by Lisa Miller, she writes about her view on gay marriage and how it needs to start being accepted. She finds evidence within the bible that gives no reason why gay men and women should not married. With the day and age we are living in now, it’s time that people see gays as equals and that they deserve to be marriage legally. Everyone deserves to live their own life, as long as it doesn’t harm others or break the laws.
Gay men and women have been seen as lower than others for quite a while, and it’s not right. The reasons for this are because those of religious faith believe that God did not create people to live like that. They believe that men are to be with women, not men. Miller, however, writes on how it’s time to end this kind of thinking. She uses evidence from the bible to support this. She mentions some famous figures from the bible such as Abraham and Jacob. Then she goes on so point out how they did not lead such perfect lives. “Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servants when he discovered his beloved wife, Sarah, was infertile. Or to Jacob, who fathered children from four different women” (28). By having these great figures live their life that way creates a double standard for others. Seeing this should help people realize that everyone chooses to live their life different. Being gay is not a wrong lifestyle, it’s just different. But that isn’t the only thing that is different.
The church and the government both think of marriage with a distinct definition. Miller acknowledges this fact in her article. When a couple is married the state sees it as a civil institution in which both partners receive benefits with “taxes, insurance, care/ custody of children, and inheritance” (28). The church, however does not see it that way. They see it as a religious institution in which both partners “commit before God, to love and cherish each other in sickness and health, for richer or poorer” (28). They also say marriage is for a man and woman, the most popular example of their evidence is Adam and Eve. By using this argument the bible sees gay activity to be “an abomination”. But by looking through the bible there is evidence in which gay activity may have been present. Miller finds a part of the bible that many gay men use in their favor of having a gay relationship. “Gay man like to point to the story of passionate King David and his friend Jonathan, with whom he was ‘one spirit’ and whom he ‘loved as he loved himself’” (31).
With being 2,000 plus years old, some of the ideals of the bible are out lived, though many people won’t admit it, Miller speaks out. “Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Why should we regard its condemnation of homosexuality with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave?”(30). With times changing how not all we read in the bible sill applies. Slavery is mentioned in a positive light in the bible, yet we all know that slavery is wrong. We even went through a civil war to end it. So with the bible saying slavery isn’t bad, does that mean that we should go back to having slaves? There are more examples of instances like this. Miller went on to write “The Torah discouraged the ancient Hebrews from marrying outside the tribe, yet Moses himself is married to a foreigner, Zipporah. Queen Ester is married to a non-Jew and, according to legend, saves the Jewish people” (31).
Even though gay men and women aren’t allowed to be legally married, that doesn’t stop them from having “unions”. Terry Davis is a priest who performs the “unions” between gay men and women. Miller interviewed him for her article and Davis comments “I’m against promiscuity-love ought to be expressed in committed relationships, not through causal sex, and I think the church should recognize the validity of committed same-sex relationships” (31). If a priest can come to concluded this, then why can’t others? Though some people see being homosexual as immoral and a sin, but in reality no one lives a perfect life. The divorce rate among Christians is around 50%, and yet they say marriage is sacred union.
After all these years to still deny gay people the same rights that everyone else has is saying they are not equal. “If we are all God’s children, made in his likeness and image, then to deny access to any sacrament based on sexuality it exactly the same thing as denying it based on skin color…”(31). It’s time for people to change and start getting comfortable with the idea of same-sex sex and marriage. “If Jesus were alive today, he would reach out especially to the gays and lesbians among us, for he does not want people to be lonely and sad” (31).