Why are so many people opposed to gay marriage? Are otherwise open minded individuals being swayed by a majority sentiment? Many people find that it is much easier to follow along with the group instead of following their own true feelings and beliefs. Let’s face it, it is difficult to have a viewpoint other than what the majority deems normal.
In the not so distant past, relationships and marriage between mixed ethnic origins was a social taboo. Couples were shunned and cast out of their families if a white and black couple decided to get together or an Asian girl went outside her race.
America has dished out enough oppression to go around. Much of it has been strikingly similar. The anti-miscegenation laws that were enacted in much of the South were rooted in interpretations of the Bible. Interracial intimacy was seen as unnatural. Blacks were put forth as filthy sub-humans who wanted to muddy white bloodlines and thus destroy the goodness of the white race. Race mixing was akin to bestiality.
(Lee-St.John 5)
Now we see this as commonplace and most people do not even bat an eye if they see persons from diverse heritages together.
“They say gay rights are not the same as civil rights. They accuse gays and lesbians of “hijacking” the civil rights movement for their homosexual agenda” (Lee-St.John 2). Ironically, these same people that once were ostracized themselves are some of the staunchest opponents to gay marriage.
As stated very passionately by Scott Bidstrup, gay marriage is very much a civil rights issue. He explains that, in most states, a gay partner cannot make medical decisions for a patient. Hospitals are required by law to go to the families of the sick person, family members that may not have spoken to the patient for years. Hostility is not unheard of in the families of a homosexual. Often these family members make decisions based on that hostility and not on the expressed wishes of the patient, even when they were...