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Health & Fitness

Happily Ever After

This past weekend saw the first same sex marriages in New York State, not everyone celebrated the happy couples' long-awaited big day.

At the stroke of midnight on Sunday, July 24, 2011, New York State became the sixth state to legalize same sex marriage. The news all day showed video of the first gay and lesbian couples to get married, some opting for a romantic setting beside Niagara Falls and others were lined up to say their “I do’s” at city hall.

Of course, alongside the lines waiting to be wed were the protestors, some merely holding signs saying “Let the people vote” and then you have the hateful signs and chants from the members of Westboro Baptist Church. Those were so disgusting I would not quote them. This is the same group of people that are infamous for picketing funerals of soldiers slain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So here’s what I don’t get, why are some people so against same sex marriage? We are all human, are we not entitled to the same rights? The way I see it, same sex couples should have the same opportunity to be happily wed, or miserably married!

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One of the recurring themes seen during these kinds of protests is that same sex marriage threatens the sanctity of marriage. Really? With almost half of all marriages ending in divorce, I think straight people are doing a great job of destroying it themselves.

I don’t feel my marriage or family is threatened by Bill and Ted getting married and my kids are not confused by same sex couples raising a family. The days of the traditional family unit being a mom, dad and 2.5 kids has been changed for a long time, once again by heterosexual couples! My kids are growing up with friends in blended families of stepparents, half-siblings and so on.

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These days, how many people getting married are doing it for religious reasons? Sure, a lot of people get married in a church, but how many of them attend church on a regular basis?

As for the arguments that the Bible is against gay marriage, where exactly does it say that? Yes it does say that a man who lies with another man is an abomination and should be stoned, but according to the Bible, we should also be stoning adulterers, disrespectful children and people breaking the Sabbath. Breaking the Sabbath can be anything from working to cleaning stuff around your house or yard.

I have to laugh at the hypocrisy some of these people demonstrate. They wave their placards and shout that they are Christians living God’s Law; well actually you are cherry picking your commandments and rules. How many of you are wearing clothing made of mixed fibers? According to Leviticus 19.19, that is forbidden; also your clothing needs to have tassels attached to the corners, each one with a blue thread (Numbers 15.38). Oh and all you guys need to refrain from cutting the hair on the sides of your head and clipping the edges of your beard. Ladies, you need to be subservient to your husband, what he says goes.

For those of you getting angry reading this and cursing me out, well that’s a no-no, too. Ephesians 5:4 states that there should be no cursing, obscenities, foolish talk or coarse joking. These are just a few of the rules in the Bible; I am just scratching the surface. If you are not following some of the rules because they don’t fit in with your life, I don’t think it’s reasonable to use the Bible as something to hide behind when protesting same sex marriage.

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