Homosexuality is America's punching bag

Opinion

[3 Comment(s)]

By Chase Trichell

In 1967, the Supreme Court ruling of Loving v. Virginia made anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. No longer were Americans prohibited from marrying an individual from a different race. Because the Constitution recognizes that all human beings are created equally, the government cannot prevent any one person from marrying any other person. After all, they are equals.

If all human beings are equal, then no one can be discriminated against based on his or her race or sex. Therefore, is it not also unconstitutional to prohibit a man from marrying a man or a woman from marrying a woman? After all, they are equals.

People choose to get married because they care for another person, and they want to make their relationship official and lawfully legitimate. That is the institution of marriage. If a female is married to another female, does that mean she cares less about her wife than a man cares about his wife? If people truly are equal, then their capacity to love another person does not hinge on whether or not that person is of the opposite sex.

Many anti-gay marriage supporters argue that same sex marriages should remain illegal because they are unhealthy, unnatural and not conducive to family life. If the government is going to prevent people from marrying each other based on what is unhealthy or unnatural, rather than their right to equality as an American citizen, then there are going to be a lot of people who are unqualified to get married.

Perhaps the Supreme Court should pass a law preventing marriage between people who have an IQ below 100. Maybe people who smoke should not be allowed to marry, or people who weigh over 300 pounds, divorcees, arrestees, or people who never graduated high school. These things are certainly not conducive to family life.

America denied freedom to an entire race for 258 years. Now, it is denying a human right to an entire community based solely on their sexual orientation. By applying the logistics of the government's interpretation of the American Constitution, being gay automatically makes an individual unequal to non-gay citizens. Otherwise, it would be impossible to justify how same-sex marriage is still illegal.

The current generation looks back in disbelief of how African Americans were treated. The next generation will look back in awe at how intolerant this generation was of homosexuals. Which raises the question: who will be the next American punching bag?

Originally Published: Issue 803 - June 10, 2009

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