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Does Opposition To Gay Marriage Automatically Equal Bigotry?

I have an awful lot of liberal friends who say absolutely yes – Anyone who is opposed to gay marriage, especially due to religious reasons, are bigots, period! In their world view, there is no middle ground. Either you are good and righteous and support same sex marriage, or you are evil and a bigot and an extreme homophobe!

Conversely, I have more than a few conservative friends who wouldn’t know bigotry from their own side of the isle if it hit them in the head with a hammer! Part of that might be a self defense mechanism trigger by liberals accusing them of bigotry for… Well… Even existing. Lets face it, it is always difficult to knowledge there are flawed rationals or motives nestled within the ideological imprint of your own group.

So, with that in mind, it’s nice to see a sane pro and con conversation on this issue. Here is a bloggingHeads that manages to capture a same discussion of this issue. Enjoy.

Here is my perspective on this issue. First, I don’t think that every person who does not favor or are opposed to the concept of gay marriage are bigots. The reasons are varied, and, even though I might not agree with the logic of the arguments against gay marriage, many are valid in their own right without the tinge of bigotry being attributed to them. This does not mean that there isn’t bigotry motivating the person who is opposed to the idea of SSM, but opposition to it does not automatically make you a bigot.

I am for gay marriage. Yes, it is for the selfish reason that I am gay and would benefit from being able to marry my mate, the person I love and am committed to. There are opponents of same sex marriage who would argue that many of those benefits you can get from marriage are obtainable through various legal contracts, such as property co-ownership and hospital visitation rights. This is true enough. But, there are never-the-less differences. The two situations are not equal. Marriage entails a myriad of legal changes and attachments. Getting every single one individually is prohibitive. And I’m sorry, you just can’t plan for and get legal protection everything. Marriage, on the other hand, is a one stop solution. Some of those legal documents are open to challenges from from third parties, where a marriage and all it entails is not.

PS. I am in a huge hurry to get out the door. If there are any errors, or something does not make sense…. I’ll fix it later. 🙂