
George Takei, the actor who played Mr. Sulu on “Star Trek,” and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, were mobbed by members of the press as they applied for a marriage license at West Hollywood Park. Their wedding is scheduled for September 14.
Congratulations go out to everyone out there in Crazy Hippy Land (AKA: California), who now have the opportunity to tie the knot.
Gay Marriage is a phenomenally hot issue right now and everyone has an opinion on it. You’re either for it, or strongly, strongly against it. Me, I don’t understand why it’s an issue in the first place.
The constitution clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” It’s right there, in plain English. Marriage, historically has been a religious event. You are joining with a partner, under the eyes of your God, for eternity. That’s the theory anyways.
So what right does the government have to prohibit a union between two consenting adults who may choose, before the eyes of their God, to join in Holy Matrimony?
The key here is “two consenting adults”, I’m not talking about a woman and her washing machine here. Many anti-gay-marriage proponents love to argue that the latter will soon be the case. That argument, frankly, is bullshit.
Governments, traditionally have been formed out of religious organizations. That’s still the case in much of the world today. Israeli politicians must be Jewish, indeed, you must be Hebrew in order to vote in Israel. Imams control much of the middle east, and the King of England must still be crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. So religion, often has a place in politics. In fact, governments, historically, have a very political reason for allowing marriage, which is to join powerful families together in order to gain property and resources.
However, here in America, we are forbidden to make laws based on religious ground (though we often do). The American government maintains legal control over marriage because it’s in the best interest of society to stabilize relationships. Why then, would we not want to help legitimize the coupling of a group of society often seen as promiscuous?
Marriage has changed a lot over the past several thousand years, and is still very different in many parts of this world. Arranged marriages are still very common in India (as a matter of fact a friend of mine, Shrinand, is baffled on why American’s choose their own partners. He is absolutely sure that this decision is the reason the divorce rate is so high in the US). Many middle eastern countries still allow polygamy. Heck, up until 1967, we still had anti-exogamy laws on the books.
So I welcome the latest change in the marriage customs and laws of the United States.
Once again, congratulations to everyone who intends to legalize their union. It’s about fucking time.