So evidently there's a bill in the Maine state legislature right now to legalize same-sex marriage, and to repeal the current state statute declaring that marriage is between one woman and one man. Upon learning this, I decided to check out the Editorials chatter on the Bangor Daily News
website. I'm happy to say that there's definitely more support for the bill than I had feared. Maine can be one of the more conservative New England states sometimes.
As anybody might predict, people on both side of the issue have plenty to say. But what I really liked about reading those editorials was the great juxtaposition of discussion of these revolutionary civil rights issues alongside equally vehement chatterings about some lobster industry woe or another--I had no idea wtf they're talking about of course, as I hail from the "lake and mountain set" not the "trap and docks set" (as I once read it succinctly put), but I can tell that this lobster concern is at least something very important. Anyway, for the most part, I liked reading these editorials. Even the people whose views I disagreed with, even this one chick who felt it necessary to imply women's inferiority to men (whatever the fuck that was about), I was grateful that they decided to share their views. Disagreement (hopefully?) marks the beginning of social progress. So for the most part, I read most of the crazy talk with a chuckle. (Yeah, even that one subservient chick...most of the time I'll get mad about sexism--especially when it's self-enforced--but I instead just felt bad for her for some reason...)
That having been said, there is just one argument in this mess that gets me truly, emotionally angry; one statement capable of luring me down from my cool, objective perch and into the immature, name-calling fray. It's when the hyper-religious types start whining along the lines of "but the state saying that marriage between two people of the same gender is 'real marriage' would mean somebody else is forcing their views upon me!". Ok, so then what (the fuck) would you call attempting to force religious views of marriage on the state definition of marriage?! How is THAT not forcing beliefs upon unwilling others? A point that really seems to be lost on these people is that the state is not going to walk into a church and demand that a religious establishment recognize a same-sex marriage before God. So in turn, the church should not walk into a statehouse and demand that the secular establishment be stripped of the right to recognize same-sex marriage before The People.
I'm going to drop the pleasantries now and just be bare-naked honest. Despite some of them making me angry, I like reading editorials from hyper-religious types about how sinful/nonsensical/akin to bestiality same-sex marriage is. I enjoy it in the most unadulterated, smug way possible. (And I mean like, "I EAT ARUGULA AND I LIKE IT!" smug.) And instead of apologizing for that, I'm letting myself celebrate it. I've worked--and continue to work--faithfully to be a self- and well-informed person capable of tolerance. It really makes me feel good about myself, and comfortable with who I am as a person, to read these fuddy-duddies working up a lather about something that really has nothing to do with them.
You know what? I think football is dumb-ass stupid--I don't think it deserves to be called a "real sport". (And you know, I'm only half-joking here.) But instead of getting all upset about football, I just watch/play the sports I like instead. There are plenty of other sports that are already played the way I think "sports ought to be", so however the institution of football feels like playing its game is up to its members. They can even keep on calling football a "real sport", and I couldn't care less. Doesn't make my beloved basketball any less of a "real sport" in my eyes or practice, and doesn't mean anybody is going to be forcing me or anyone else to play the non-sport of football. I don't even have to call football a sport if I don't want to! (And I don't!) But it does mean I have to let other people call it a sport, at least the ones nice enough to mind their own business. I'd be pretty sad if someone told me basketball wasn't a "real sport" anymore and everybody was outlawed from playing, so I guess I wouldn't want to do that to football either.
