All Men Are Created Equal... oh, wait, we lied.

I know that this is tired, old subject, not to mention extremely controversial and everyone is tired of talking about it. Unfortunately it's not something you can just wish will go away. It keeps popping up in the news and will continue to pop up until everyone is represented equally.

Gay marriage.

Say what? If I scared you, I'll say it again. Gay marriage. Two words that should be able to go together without someone in the crowd screaming something obscene or a right-wing fundamentalist having a heart attack. It's a simple phrase, really, but has led to such a ridiculously un-simple debate.

Not even all gay people agree on the notion of gay marriage. To me, this is a travesty. Why would you not care about a basic freedom for everyone, especially that of your own "kind" to enjoy along with everyone else? Many straight people don't agree with even regular marriage, and yet you don't see them trying to tear down the right for their kind to marry.

Let's hit on a few key, common arguments here.

1. "Homosexuality is unnatural!" Well, Pastor Fred, so are those animals you're eating, pumped full of antibiotics and hormones. So are computers, plastic, bowling balls, pieces of furniture, your church pews, cigarettes, prescription drugs, prosthetic limbs, cosmetics, the fur coats of dead animals, sex for pleasure, masturbation, guns, torture, nuclear warheads, electricity, airplanes... you see where I'm going with this. Man has evolved to be privy to a whole host of unnatural things. What's natural anymore? I can walk into a Wal-Mart and pick up what claims to be "All-Natural Eggs." What the hell is all-natural? We created these things, and have adapted to them as long as they don't destroy the entire population. Does homosexuality destroy the population? Straight people are still breeding like rabbits. Our world population will be reaching 9.2 billion in the year 2050. I hardly doubt that a few queers in your neighborhood are going to seriously put a dent in an already over-populated world. How do you know that, like some animals, we're not becoming homosexual "naturally" to control our desire to breed, breed, breed? Do we really need more people on this planet?

2. "Marriage should be between a man and a woman!" According to whom? God? I believe I remember a certain Amendment to our United States Constitution that stated something about freedom of religion. If I don't believe in God, why should I have to follow the rules of some guy I've never met? Even if I did believe in God, who dictates what I think God wants? The Bible? OK then, let's use the Bible as my reference. The Bible also tells me that I'm unpure when I'm on my monthly cycle. Sure, I may be a raging bitch, but I don't think that makes me any less of a person. The Bible also tells me many other interesting laws and facts that I'm sure you've all heard in this endless debate. So tell me, why do we get to pick and choose what we want to follow from the Bible? Also, with the whole freedom of religion thing, why are we governing our government-enforced right to marry? I thought we had freedom of religion in our government. Why is "God's Rule" included in this? If marriage is dictated by the word of God, why do we let Atheists marry? Why do we let Pagans and witches marry? It sounds to me like this whole "man and woman" thing is less about God and more about being stubborn and childish in getting one's own way.

3. "If we let gays marry, we have to let people marry their cousins/dogs/cars!" This is the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard.  Who cares if Johnny wants to marry his sister Sally? If he loves her that much, let him. As long as its consensual. You want to talk about natural? Animals all over the world will occasionally shack up with his sister, cousin, or even mother sometimes. People breed dogs within bloodlines to keep genes strong. If you're going to use the natural argument, at least apply it to everything. Is marrying into and procreating with your own blood kind of gross? Sure it is. But it's only taboo because we were raised to think so. It's not really any of your business, why do you care who marries who? And even if they DO get married, who's to say they'll even have kids? Everyone thinks that marriage = kids. But even straight marriages, several of them, don't always have kids. OK, don't let them marry. What's going to stop them from doing anything anyway? Marriage isn't some secret passageway to the world of sex or breeding. It's a status, it comes with some pretty random benefits. This goes for gay people. Just because they're marrying, doesn't mean they're going to get artificially knocked up or adopt (even though they should adopt, since the world seriously needs less kids). And hell, you should support that more, since they won't be putting recessive genes in the pool. As far as animals and inanimate objects... seriously? Can a dog give consent? Can a vehicle give consent? Last time I checked, that was physically impossible. Please stop using ridiculous arguments to prove a seriously flawed argument. "Oh, but based on this logic, polygamy should be legal too!" First off, polygamy is pretty rare. Yeah, I'm sure it involves a lot of manipulation on the established wife's end to allow her husband to marry someone else, but isn't it usually consensual? Forgive me, my knowledge on the subject of old Mormon tradition and polygamy itself is little, so I'm only going off what I know. But from what I gather, polygamy is already done in some areas, and I'm sure it can be regulated somehow, even though it is a pretty rare situation.

In short, I have yet to see a serious, realistic argument against gay marriage. Sure, I may be a hypocrite when typing this, but it's very wrong to project your morals and values onto a different group of people. Especially in a country founded on freedom, it's is extremely hypocritical and immoral to press your judgment onto others for no reason than your own. Gay marriage does not hurt you, and it does not hurt society. Tell me how gays marrying directly affect you and I'll listen to your argument. Otherwise, I suggest you stop meddling  in the affairs and businesses of others and allow them to experience the same rights as you. They're people, just like you and me. Allow them to live like people.