Gay marriage and religious freedom

There have been a number of big political discussions over the years. Among them has been the argument of gay marriage versus religious freedom. My perspective tends to deviate from the bulk of the discussion, so I thought I would provide my thoughts on this issue.


Before I go any further, I want to say something about my perceptions of the gay community. Homosexual relationships involve consenting partners. What these partners do, especially in private, does not harm others. Regardless of your personal views of the morality, we have no right to control behavior that does not get in the way of other people's rights. This is especially true if we want to embrace the concept of freedom.

To me, the debate over gay marriage is nonsense. There are two primary types of marriage, legal and religious. Legal marriage essentially makes the government a third-party in your personal commitment to your partner. We should not demand government involvement, and I see no reason for gays to absolutely demand that the government can regulate their private lives.

Let me clarify something. I do not believe believe that the government should support straight marriage while shunning the gay community. Ultimately, I want the government out of the marriage business.

The religious arguments regarding whether or not gays should be allowed to marry have backfired on me. If you truly want religious beliefs tied to marriage, there isn't much of a choice for this issue. Religious freedom would mean that each religion can have their own beliefs. It does not mean that one  powerful religion's beliefs should be mandated. Legalizing gay marriage could provide religions with more flexibility to embrace their own beliefs rather than forcing all religions to view marriage as being between a man and a woman.

If we really wanted to, we could always compromise. We could give the legal status a different name such as civil unions (which is a term that has already been used as a gay equivalent of marriage) and let religions have marriage. Of course, this approach would effectively legalize gay marriage since there is no question that some religions would be accepting of the status.