I’m sorry?  Didn’t you just ask me what I thought?  I told you what and why, and now you’re telling me that I’m wrong and that isn’t what I really think.  Who are you, again? I had this conversation with a friend a few weeks ago.  Oh to have the old, heavy duty, rotary dial phone receiver that you could bang on the counter without damaging the phone.  Or better yet, just like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, reach through the receiver, grab him by the neck, drag him back and shake him until his teeth rattle. The question was: “What do you think about gay marriage?”  My response:  “If two adults want to get married, they should be able to get married.  It’s really none of my business.”  That’s when he said “You don’t believe that, deep down you know it’s wrong. You have to say that because you’re a liberal.” I have so many issues with that statement that I have to take them one at a time.  Maybe he’ll read this and actually believe me, since saying it out loud hasn’t gotten me anywhere. First, my mind boggles at the idea of telling someone that they don’t have the opinion that they just stated.  I might not agree with their opinion but deny that they believe it?  I don’t think so.  

Second, I’m not a liberal.  I have, in fact, no political affiliation.  I don’t even like to call myself an independent because now it’s being codified into its own group.  I have opinions on all the issues.  I never go to the far right or left but I do run the gamut from conservative to moderate to liberal.  I get into a lot of one sided discussion and take the other side just to provide balance.  Especially when things are being said that are distortions or simply not true.  I firmly believe that you can’t make an informed opinion without know both sides of the issue.  That means checking facts not just believing the propaganda.

 Third, yes I do believe that any two adults that want to get married should have the right to get married; whatever combination of race, gender or religious affiliation that entails.  Marriage is a legal contract and all adults that are of sound mind have the right to enter into contracts.  This whole issue is a distraction from dealing with the proper duties of the government:  education, war, the economy, health care, tax reform, homelessness, immigration…the list goes on.  Marriage is a union between two people, let’s leave it to the two people involved.