During the third presidential debate, moderator Bob Scheiffer asked the candidates whether they believed homosexuality to be a choice. While both candidates only hinted at actually answering the question, Sen. John Kerry was criticized for invoking Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter and (in reference to her) saying: "She would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as."
Cheney and his wife, Lynne, lashed back at Kerry and said that he was just using a cheap, political trick, keeping them from actually having to address Kerry's comments. It surely wouldn't be politically advantageous for the Cheneys to actually discuss their true feelings about their daughter's sexual orientation in an administration so set on dehumanizing homosexuals.
In that answer, Kerry separated himself from Bush on the subject of faith and religious fervor. Both candidates belong to religions that believe in the so-called sanctity of marriage and that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman, but only one of those candidates is willing to dictate his personal beliefs to the rest of the country and ignore the rights that are so explicitly spelled out in the same Constitution he wishes to amend.
We have decided again and again that it is not fair to keep women from voting or keep black students from attending the same schools as whites. This obviously sets a precedent that all people have to be afforded equal rights, and it is unconstitutional to allow one group to do something while not allowing another to do the same.
It is not remotely important that churches acknowledge these marriages -- that is why there is a separation of church and state. However, it is important that the state and federal governments acknowledge gay marriage because they owe it to all citizens to treat them equally under the law.
We cannot let one person's latent homophobia change the Constitution. Marriage deserves no sanctity. Britney Spears' 55-hour marriage, "Who wants to marry (insert anything dramatic here)" and the fact that more than 50 percent of all marriages between straight people end in divorce are three pretty compelling pieces of evidence that marriage is not even the slightest bit sanctimonious.
Maybe it used to be; now it's a joke -- something to be raffled off on television shows. I think a president should be more concerned with the sanctity of the Constitution he swore to protect than he is with the sanctity of a legal bond that entitles only simple things, such as visiting your partner in the hospital or getting a tax break.
If the amendment banning gay marriage ever comes to fruition, it will be sending a horrible message to the people of America and to the people of the world. This amendment is about more then just allowing people to marry: it is about telling a group of American citizens that their government does not recognize them as equals in the name of the law.
It says, "You're not equal; you're not entitled to the rights that the rest of the country has, and that makes you less of a human in your government's eyes."
Being gay is not a choice, it can't possibly be. Why would anyone choose that life? Why would anyone choose years of self-loathing, the scorn of parents and friends and the stigmatism and stereotypes brought on by "Will and Grace" and every other pop culture phenomenon jumping on the gay male bandwagon?
People don't want their lifestyles to be a point of discussion or an issue in an election. Heterosexuals don't have to listen to people discuss their straightness as something that is right or wrong. It makes me sad that I even need to write about it.
Who would look at what those hateful, horrible, insecure, under-developed cavemen did to Matthew Shepard and say, "Yes, I'm going to choose to risk my life because it seems like it would be fun?"
If the answer isn't obvious, then have your friends hang you on a wooden fence sometime and leave you for dead. I think you'll figure it out pretty quickly.
Adam Wright is a journalism senior. Reach him at :adam.wright@asu.edu.
