(Fred Weinberg/The Penny Press) – There’s been a lot of talk about homosexuality recently.
Oh, they don’t call it that anymore. The politically correct term is “gay”. But what they mean is homosexual.
And it seems that the President—perhaps legitimately, perhaps cynically; it is, after all, an election year—has decided that it’s OK to allow homosexual couples the state’s imprimatur to marry.
I have an overarching question.
Why is it that I have to know about your private sexual activity?
Why should I care?
Isn’t sex something which happens in private? Between two consenting adults?
Not only do I not care about Perez Hilton’s sex life, I don’t care about Paris Hilton’s sex life, either. If both of them wish to make asses of themselves on TV, that’s OK, because I can turn off the TV. I also don’t have to go to the public venues where they hang out.
But why is it that I have to have personal knowledge of their various sexual preferences?
I’m not suggesting that a homosexual couple should not have the same rights that a heterosexual couple has. Not in the least.
But those rights are, essentially, contractual rights, and any good attorney can draft a partnership agreement to make sure those rights are protected. And if a homosexual couple wants to make sure they have those rights, then I’m happy to oblige them.
The problem, however, when you want to add in the state’s imprimatur is the slippery slope. While homosexuals are definitely a minority, to equate the way people choose to have sex with each other with your religion or your skin color or your ethnicity is, at best, a stretch. If that’s the case, what other activity should similarly be protected?
Man-Boy love? Bestiality? How about human sacrifice?
Ridiculous? Maybe. But, clearly, society has to draw the line somewhere.
The line, right now, is that what you do in your bedroom behind closed doors is largely your business. If you don’t go out of your way to make it my business, then I really don’t have any reason to care much what it is you do.
But, when I have to know, then you are, essentially, asking me to approve what you it is you are doing. And, as my late father used to occasionally tell me, never ask a question you don’t really want to hear the answer to.
And in this case, you’re not even asking politely.
You are telling me something I don’t care about and don’t really want to know about and telling me that it is necessary for me to approve of what it is you are doing.
That’s a lot like a little old lady at a casino blowing smoke in my face and telling me it’s her “right” to smoke.
Now I want to separate the issue of homosexual marriage from other, related issues.
Should homosexual couples be able to adopt children?
Not my first choice, but there are so many children in need of a loving household that if it’s available in the form of a homosexual couple, I’m OK with that.
Should homosexual couples be allowed in the military?
Sure. Under the same rules as heterosexual couples.
Should homosexual couples be able to have all the civil rights a heterosexual couple has?
As I said above, those are contractual rights and easy for an attorney to establish and I’m all in favor of any two people who want to enter into such a partnership.
But marriage? Sorry, I choose not to be involved.
