Here's My Stand on Same-Sex Marriages

I never have wavered on whether same-sex relations are wrong. They are. As to whether government should recognize them, though, by allowing the weddings, I have.

If you read this blog, you know I thought and thought and thought on the issue last week. Wondering what rights were involved, I queried some of my Facebook friends.

"What are the rights lost when we do not grant marriage to those of the same sex?" I asked. "I can think of some. They do not have all the visitation rights at the hospital. They do not have automatic inheritance rights. They cannot file joint income taxes. What are other rights that are lost? It is suggested there are basic civil rights they are deprived of. The right to get married, of itself, might be considered a civil right. What are others?"

The first answer back came from Brian Beckstead, who is gay:

"Not really a 'right' so to speak but the one key component lost without equality is; Dignity! As a Spiritual Pastor I am performing many marriages this spring and summer. I am officiating a right.....a right I myself am not afforded."

Bless Brian. And, I thank him for substantiating what I already perceived was one of the biggest reasons they want the right to marry. More than anything, it seems to me, they want acceptance. 

I continued to think on the matter, not thinking of any right that would fit under the Constitution.

But, now I think I have one: If we are to extend to them the right to worship as they please, we must also extend to them the right to marry. If the First Amendment gives me the right to believe such marriages are wrong, then it gives them the right to believe they are right.

They argue that by not allowing them to marry, we are forcing our morals on them. Why should they be forced to live by church doctrines they don't believe in?
So, of my own, I would say, let them marry. But, since the church I belong to is against letting them marry (it supported Prop 8, and I am guessing it remains in favor of legislation against such marriages), I say, don't let them marry. Call it hypocritical, if you will, but I do not think it hypocritical. I simply think there nothing wrong with thinking a matter through, and coming up with one's own conclusion, then acknowledging that we do not have all wisdom, and God is wiser than us.