Gay marriage

The Government consultation on equal marriage has been launched.

Marriage is between one man and one woman. If two men or two women are allowed to marry, the fundamental nature of marriage as an institution will be irrevocably and completely changed. So straight people will be unable to marry, and the human race will die out.

Marriage is an ancient institution, as old as civilisation and older than any existing society. So the laws of any current society should not change it. Or the death penalty. Or war. Or prostitution.

Marriage is a sacrament. God hates queers, who should be denied access to the sacraments, because Jesus says so, and all Jesus’s true servants agree.

Here’s an interesting one. Marriage is a matter of power and property. Gay people, being equal, should use civil partnerships instead, because they symbolise true equality. No woman can marry without vowing to “love, honour and obey” her husband and lord. And the Married Women’s Property Act 1870 should be repealed.

It is the top of the slippery slope. If we allow gay marriage, people will want to marry their siblings, their cars, or their dogs. And if marriage is open for a woman to marry a woman, it cannot be limited to prevent a woman from marrying her dog. Or if marriage is open to people whom a tiny, shrinking minority find disgusting, it cannot be restricted at all.

Oh yes, and marriage is for the procreation of children. Infertile people should not be allowed to marry. No-one who does not want children should be allowed to marry.

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Weird, isn’t it? The Republican party in the US is an alliance of rich people who want to cut taxes on rich people, who promise to persecute gay people and restrict women’s control over their own bodies, to please poor people who say that these “family values” are more important than economic interests. Newt Gingrich is prepared to say his own sister is the end of civilisation as we know it, in order to gain power and, er, reduce taxes on himself and his cronies. At least Dick Cheney does not betray his daughter in the same way, but Mr Cheney is no longer running for office.

The only thing wrong with the Government’s marriage proposals is that churches who wish to do so, will not be able to celebrate gay marriages. Perhaps this is to draw the sting from the churches’ objections: it is a civil matter, nothing to do with the churches. This does not stop churches objecting. But Quakers, Unitarians and liberal Jews wish to celebrate gay marriages. I think that soon those churches who want to will be allowed to solemnise marriages.

No church which objects should be forced to solemnise gay marriages. I would not want the British National Party banned, and as long as they keep their beliefs among consenting adults in private, they should be allowed to hold them. Soon, the homophobes will have to retreat to the closet, there to gnash their teeth in rage and fear lest their peculiar beliefs become known.

I am sorry about the sarcastic tone of much of this post. Marriage equality is right, because people wish to celebrate and proclaim their life-long commitment to one another, and the State should support that. It makes a minority happy, and hurts no-one.