I Don't Give a Prop

Proposition 8 is back in the news this week. It seems some people in California think it’s “unconstitutional” to deny rights to a segment of the population based solely on their sexual orientation. I know, I know... crazy, right? Now, I usually don’t write about politics on the Wheel, but this isn’t a political issue. It’s a human rights issue.¹ Therefore, I’m going to state my piece. I’m doing it now, in part because this blog wasn’t up and running when Prop 8 came around the first time, and in part because it’s fun to yell at idiots.²

A ruling concerning human rights should never have been decided by popular vote. Then again, similar issues throughout history — slavery, women’s suffrage, segregation, interracial marriage — typically needed a court decision or presidential decree to set things right, and those rulings only started gaining acceptance among the nay-sayers when they could no longer say nay. I hope that happens here, that Prop 8 gets struck down as unconstitutional and other states will be forced to follow.

I was reading an article about the trial today, and happened to glance over some of the thousands of comments that followed. Over and over, the opponents of same-sex marriage primarily fall back on the same three lines of reasoning to argue their cause. Here they are, each followed by a short rebuttal:

1. Homosexuality is wrong. It says so in the Bible.
   The Bible says a lot of things. Most people pick and choose the passages that suit them. Do you allow women to talk in church? Do you talk with people who aren’t Christian? Have you ever worked on the sabbath? Yeah? Then shut up about your fuckin’ Bible!
    
2. Marriage has always been between a man and a woman.
   In most early societies (and some current ones), women were owned first by their fathers, then by their husbands. They were often married, as teenagers, to men more than twice their age. They had no rights of their own. Times change. So do laws. Do you want your hands cut off for illegally downloading music? Do you want to be killed for ogling your neighbor’s wife? No? Then shut up about fuckin’ history!
    
3. Marriage should remain between a man and a woman because of biology; homosexual couples can’t have babies.
   Many couples can’t have children. Do you believe an impotent man or infertile woman should be barred from marriage? That a woman who is past child-bearing age should be forced to divorce her husband so he can form another fruitful union? Didn’t think so. So shut up about procreation, and go fuck yourself!
   

There, now I feel a little better.


¹ I usually don’t write about human rights issues, either, come to think of it. I usually write about more inane things, like Jewish pirates or birds wearing aprons. But let’s keep reading; I want to see where I’m going with this...
² Well, not to their faces. What would be the point of that? Idiots don’t listen. It’s much easier to yell to like-minded individuals about idiots. That’s what I’ll do here.