"Gay Marriage"

I was readin’ the Mayberry Post last night. Back on page 5 was an article ‘bout “gay marriage.” Yep, that put a crick in my neck. Was written by some lawyer fella. Says the whole problem is that good Christian folks, been doin' a lot of “mixing of religion with civil law.” Now ain’t that somethin’! Reckon I don’t see how religion can “interfere with laws” as he says. Ain’t all them laws ‘bout doin’ what’s right? And didn’t laws start with ethics and moral codes that been around forever?


You know, I always thought them lawyers was educated pretty good. Reckon tain’t so, ‘cause this guy don’t even know where laws come from. Maybe that fancy law school of his never taught the history of laws. Ya know, like how the Roman’s Twelve Tables beat out Christianity by hundreds of years. Or how the Mosaic Law was around centuries 'fore that. 

When you set down and think a spell, the whole idea of morals and ethics and laws must go back to the cavemen. Wouldn’t ya think laws started ‘bout the time them cavemen decided that one caveman killin’ another caveman weren’t a real good idea? So I reckon it’s kinda unfair to blame the Catholics or the Baptists or whatever religion for morals-based laws. Come to think of it, ain’t our laws conjured up in Washington?


I really thought a lawyer woulda known that our Founding Fathers believed in some kind of a God. Guess he never bothered to read something writ by Washington, Madison or Jefferson. Maybe he missed the class that explained how they came up with that “separation of church and state.”  They wanted to make damn sure they didn’t end up with a state religion, like back there in England. They sure wasn’t trying to make everybody a Atheist. They just thought Americans should be free to worship - or not, as they pleased.


Oh yea, marriage. Wouldn’t ya think a lawyer would know that the idea of marriage and it’s rituals performed by tribal leaders, shaman, preachers and even captains at sea been goin’ on long before the government existed? Of course, somewhere along the line, governments took part of the authority to marry people. They set up these “non-sectarian” marriages. Then they created “marriage licenses” to officially record and track such things… and create them fees. Yet, they still gotta accept preacher marriages, right?


Well anyway, once you eliminate that blame game an' such, the real problem sure looks to be in the term “gay marriage.” Some city folks might argue the point, but most folks I know accept gays, at least in a co-existence sorta way. Folks know gays have always been around. And most folks understand that the gay community is subject to some discriminations. BUT, most folks also believe that marriage requires a guy and a gal. Tain’t no other way to reproduce and continue the species!  But now, just like other problems (some city-slickers like to call them “issues”) in this here country, a real loud minority keeps demanding that the majority of us redo everything just to suit them. So they want “gay marriage.” And like I said, them words is the real problem.


Don’t ya think a real simple solution might be to not use the words gay and marriage together? Why wouldn’t the words “civil union” do the trick? Heck, the politicians up there in the capitol already been usin’ the term! They already been changin’ laws so gays can get employer benefits, hospital visitation rights and such. All they gotta do is keep using them words.  Then nobody’d have to change all them books that already use the word marriage.


It don’t sound that hard to me. But then, I am…
Justan O. Geezer