F*ck You Maine!

So a bit ago Maine voted against Gay Marriage. I capitalize it because obviously it is a hot topic button for all those people who turned out to vote it down. Tens of thousands of straight people came out so they could put the gays back in their place. Because for a second the gay population of Maine had a good thing going. A legislatively passed recognition that they have the right to marry. But no more. All those thousands of straight people came out to put that shit down and thus restore the natural balance. Excuse me. I just choked on that last bit of sarcasm.

I find myself dismayed and utterly horrified. In this day of age. The end of 2009 for fucks sake. But I suppose it is my fault. I have been living in this magical world of my own creation. And I only populate my world with open, clear and fair minded people. So generally the people I associate with can speak articulately about their beliefs, whatever they are, but don’t impose their beliefs on me or others. The one thing I don’t tolerate in my life is hate. Specifically hatred in the form of ignorance. IE. Homophobia. When homophobia and religion mix you get the worst type of ignorance and hate.

Ask your typical salad bar Christian what they have against gay marriage and you will probably get the typical salad bar Christian response. I hate faggots, yes I do! For the Bible tells me to! At which point my blood temperature rises about 15 degrees. See unlike most of the drones who spit out that ignorant bilge, I have read more than a pamphlet about what the Bible says on the matter. I’ve gone to the source. Yes, it does say man shall not lay with man as he lays with a woman (which btw if you are gay you can not lay with a man as you would a woman. They have different parts!) followed immediately by the equally damning truth that if you have ever eaten shellfish you will rot in hell for all eternally right next to the gay guys. I know more than a few “good Christians” who like to hit the lunch special at Red Lobster. They like most people salad bar their Christianity. I’ll take some of this eternal peace and a good helping of righteous condemnation but go ahead and keep all that stuff I don’t want like the sacrifices and anything that makes me feel bad about myself. That drives me absolutely crazy.

However to hate a person and deny them the rights that every other citizen in this country enjoys because they are Gay and then hide in the supposedly unassailable Bible bunker just makes me want to take anyone who hides behind that flimsy excuse and punch them in the face. I don’t give a shit what your beliefs are. Beliefs have nothing to do with it. We are discussing the RIGHT to marry. Not the beliefs of marriage or the privilege to marry. The right. Has there ever been a vote actually giving straight people the right to marry? Well straight white people that is. No. Because the idea is ridiculous. Noone should get to decide wehter or not I can decide to live the rest of my life with another person. And the concept that gay people need more concideration of the matter is demeaning not only to those who prostalatize this crap but also to all of us who have to deal with it. Why does it need concideration at all? WHY? Are they US citizens? Do they pay their taxes? If you can answer yes to both of those questions you are guaranted the rights of every other tax paying US citizen. The idea that such a fundaemental right being denied anyone is unconscionable. If any other group in this country were denied the right to marry based on being a minority if would not be acceptable. But if it’s Gay, it’s OK!

I believe that if you are being denied your rights and being treated as sub-citizen then all those taxes need to go into an escow account and not be paid to the government. If a landlord refused to give you what they are contracted to then you have the right to take your rent and put it into an escrow account until the problems are fixed. There has to be a way to do that on a larger level. And if there isn’t then a path needs to be blazed. Money is the only thing anyone in Washington understands. So hit them where it hurts. Sue them. I know it won’t work but fuck I want to do something.

And since I am simply ranting I will also get this off my ample chest. I believe homophobia stems not from any religious belief at all. It stems from desire. I believe that those who are most afraid of gays are fighting their own desire. I saw a study where they took 2 groups of 10 men. The first group had no issue with gays or gay marriage. The second group were adamantly homophobic and absolutely against gay marriage. Both groups explicitly denied any attraction to men. They then took each man and put him in a chair in a room with a tv. He had to watch man on man porn while he was videotaped. Each man also had an instrument that measured girth around their penis. So if at any point they were aroused it would register. Every man who had no issue with gays registered little to no arousal during the gay porn. And every man who was devoutly homophobic had been hard most of the time. That pretty much says it all for me. We fight that which we fear within ourselves the most.

If you haven’t figured it out I support gay rights. Not because my best friend if gay. Not because he and his husband are my daughters god parents. Not because I am omnisexual (I like em all). I will fight for those reasons. I support gay rights because I support equal rights to all citizen of this country. It’s a slippery slope when we start denying rights to groups of people and who knows where it will end. Because it never ends with just one group.