A Continued Rant

On Thursday, October 18th I wrote about an article talking about same sex marriage. The article mentions this year during election season same sex marriage will be some of the 50 states ballots including Maryland. If you would like to read more on that article you can find the link in my previous post. I will however go into more detail on my opinion for same sex marriage and the thoughts our government has toward it.

Same sex marriage seems to be a touchy subject here in the United States of America. In ways I understand why, especially for people who have strong religious affiliation. It is not in the bible, and it is not the way things are "supposed" to be. Marriage is "supposed" to be the joining of a male and female in holy matrimony. However, times have changed and if two people of the same sex want to marry they should have the freedom to do so. I understand why people might have a problem with this happening in a church, but there are other ways to get married. They can get married in a court house, justice of the peace, they can even have a wedding at a venue and have the justice of the peace marry them rather than and priest, father, or pastor.

President Obama seems to be open to the idea that "gay is ok". According to the Washington post in 2012 Obama pushed to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military, undoing the don't ask/ don't tell policy put in place by the last democratic president. President Obama had a slow evolution to same sex marriage and came out in support. He encouraged Maryland, Maine and Washington to allow same-sex marriage and this year it will be on the ballots. He also urged some states to vote against marriage prohibition.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney according the Washington Post has not brought up the topic in his conventions, campaign trail or debates. However, according to 2012 Republican Candidates Romney is not open to the idea of same sex marriage. He states marriage is an institution between a man and woman. He does say though that basic civil rights and appropriate benefit should be available to people in non-traditional relationships.

I have a feeling that over the next few years same sex marriage will become a popular topic of discussion and that more states will be allowing same sex marriage. Though I am typically very conservative in my ideology same sex marriage is a topic where I swing the other way and look forward to living in place where people can marry no matter who their partner is.

Same sex marriage yay, ne, or no say?

Thursaday, October 18th, 2012, Jon Walker wrote an article on marriage equality in Maryland. This year same sex marriage is going to be on many states' ballots.Washington state who had a preliminary poll with 55 percent states yes to same sex marriage and only 40 percent say no. And also Maine was mentioned in the article 52% yes and 44% said no Jon writes about how Washington Post asks people "Q: (AMONG LIKELY VOTERS) As you may know, Question 6 on the state ballot is the ‘Civil Marriage Protection Act’. If the election were held today, would you vote yes or no on Question 6?  Yes 52% No 43% No opinion 5%." Jon then goes on to say though the prelimanary poll is in the favor of same-sex marriage it means nothing, other polls have been suggested to lose and in the actual time of vote they win!

Though, the article is not very detailed the writer seems unbias on the topic which is very professional. I am however, going to go a little more into the gut of the topic. I think it is a great step for our country that same sex marriage is now becoming a semi acceptable topic. The topic reminds  me of President Wilson's term when he discusses womens right to vote. He refused to support a bill for womens right to vote and claimed it was a state matter not a federal one. I saw a photo once that said what would happen if same sex people were to marry...it was a pie chart and the whole chart was blue and below it said blue- gay people will be married, grey- a third world war would break out, pink- we would have an eruption of plagues...but the graph was all blue so truth is would anything change? More and more states are adding same sex marriage to the ballots this year. Including, . If the same question showed up on your ballot what would you check yay, ne, or no say?

A Matter of Religion

October 2, 2012, Ben Stein writes Mitt Romney’s Mormonism is a ‘worry’. Ben Stein argues Mitt Romney is a mystery man that we know nothing about. He expresses his concerns with GOP presidential candidate that we do not know where he stands as far as being liberal, conservative, what he stands for. Although, in this article Stein's  biggest concern is what does it mean that Mitt Romney is a mormon. In the article he states that last thing is a concern for me "I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons are honest and fantastically patriotic and hard working. But what does it mean to believe in Mormonism? A close friend said she could not vote for him although she is a Republican because, she said, ‘Mormons are not Christians. …’” At the end of the article Stein writes a strong remark if Mitt Romney "can not define what he believes in maybe he should not have been a nominee in the first place."

Maybe it is my lack of political knowledge, or understanding, but to judge someone based on their religion is unethical. His religion does not represent what kind of candidate he is. As Americans we are granted many freedoms. Freedom of religion is included in those rights. There is no "right" religion in America. We are the melting pot culture of the world. Stein has a right to not vote for Romney due to his religion as that is something he believes in. But, to say that Romney should not have been nominated since he has not defined his mormonism seems unfair and has nothing to do with his political standings. So unless Romney is bringing religion into is political debates, his religion should not have to be defined to become President of the U.S.A.