Same Sex Marriage Debate Again

Doing What's Right, General Chit Chat, Minority Watch, Politics

So at last Stephen Harper is going to honour Canada by actually following through on a campaign promise. No it isn’t the one about having a transparent government, nor is it the one about insuring Cabinet is filled from elected members of Parliament even. And nope it isn’t about debating our role in Afghanistan or insuring that Canadians will have clean air to breathe in 10 or 20 years. Instead he is finally going to have his free vote on same sex marriage. I suppose it is a moral victory though, I mean at least he can claim to have honoured his campaign pledge but let us consider this not lightly.

To begin with, why does Stephen Harper think we even need to once more revisit a court mandated piece of legislation? The whole issue of same sex marriage shouldn’t even require a Court Order nor should it even require a separate law to have allowed it. Simply fact is that any minority should automatically be entitled to the same rights and benefits that the majority can obtain. It should never be something reserved soley for the majority. That is what a Democracy is supposed to be about.

Then too I have to wonder what is it about homosexuality that has Stephen Harper hating us? I can understand that some have deep religious convictions. I know I do. Still even if my interpretation of who and what GOD is, is wrong and Stephen Harper’s is right, does that give him the right to force his view on me? See this is where I differ and where I believe Canada differs from nations like the United States. I honestly believe that we take democracy far more seriously up here than say the States. I suppose that is one reason why we do have the right marry, even if I am a homosexual. And no, its not the result of some secret Homosexual Agenda that Bush and his puppetts keep claiming we have.

Fact of the matter is that I would yell as loudly for them to have their opinion as much as I do for myself. I have no problem with Harper hating me. I have no problem with Harper thinking I am evil. I have no problem with bigots like Harper and his neanderthal underlings like Vic Toews saying I will go to Hell for being Gay. While I stand tall in opposition I will stand shoulder to shoulder with them to defend their right to have that opinion. I think, personally, that they do a great diservice to the one they call GOD by having such horrid thoughts, and by making such spiteful and nasty comments as they do, but it is their right to do so.

Just as it is my right to disagree.

The issue isn’t whether GOD believes in me and my lifestyle or not. It isn’t an issue of whether or not Marriage under some religious pretext is weakened or not under the eyes of those religious leaders and their flocks. The simple fact is that even GOD gave mankind Freedom to decide what is and what isn’t for them to do. It isn’t for Stephen Harper and his chorus of Klansmen to force me to think differently than I do, and that is why in Canada, at least, the courts and Government have stood tall for same sex marriage rights.

It is the right of all to be treated the same. No special laws and rights and benefits for one group, simply because they CHOOSE to believe in a GOD that isn’t what the minority believe in. This is a country not run by Pope Intolerance or any other Church Leader. The spiritual well being of Canada is up to its people, not to the Immans of Mecca, the Rabbi’s of Jeruseleum or the ArchBishop of Canterbury. It is my choice to believe what I believe, and Stephen Harper has no authority or right to force me to believe otherwise.

Parliament has an obligation not to the Pope, not to George Bush and the United States, not to the Immans of Mecca or the Rabbinical Council in Tel Aviv. It has an obligation to me and to every citizen here to treat us all equally. That if Joe Average has the right to marry, then so too must Gay James have that right.

For me, to do otherwise is to simply not just wrong, but we might as well surrender now and pledge our allegiance to the United States. Because that is how I see it. To deny any citizen the same rights, the same protection under our human made laws, is to be simply an American or some other dictatorship like Iran, Syria or China.

This whole debate again is important. A clear signal needs to be sent to all who would enslave us, who would take away our national character, who would make us Americans, that in Canada we not just say the words, but we practise what we preach. We don’t just say we are a Democracy, we prove it in deeds and laws.

Whether you believe I should be married to David is not the issue. The real issue is do you believe in equal rights for all or not? If you do, then you need to write your Member of Parliament and tell them so. Tell them they need to push the racist bigotry of Stephen Harper off the floor of Parliament by rejecting his motion on Dec 6 (see full story) and to insure that Canada remains a real Democracy, not a paper one like the United States.

There are countless reasons given by the religious fanatics on why people should oppose same sex marriage. They might be what you believe as well and that is fine. I can accept that and I think most Gays can accept that. What we can’t accept is that you have any right to force that view on us. For all the reasons why you should oppose Same Sex Marriage, I have only one simple reason why you should support my right to be married.

I am a Canadian Citizen.

Ian @ November 29, 2006