Proposition 8.

There has been an outcry about fairness roaring across the campus. People seem to be highly incensed at California’s recent ban on homosexual marriage, but few of them seem to know all of the issues at stake here. Let us examine this issue a little more closely.

First of all the issue of gay marriage seems to be a flashpoint for many people, but those same people ignore a very basic fact when they urge this issue. Marriage is religious in its origins, religious in its observance, and religious in its most basic principles. This begs the question, why do homosexuals think they can force this issue? The fact of the matter is that, as marriage is essentially a religious institution, no law can affect who is or is not allowed to be married.

There is such a thing as a civil union in today’s society, and this form of “marriage” is controlled by the state. Gays seeking to live together as a couple could get a civil union before they began pressing for “equal status.” Where a church is concerned there is no law in the U.S. that can start or stop a practice. Gays, despite their best efforts, can never hope to force a church to marry them, and as such their fight was doomed from the beginning.

It was almost amusing to watch the protest the other day and see how quickly the protesters would contradict themselves when interviewed. For instance, one couple stated, “we just want equal rights in the eyes of the government. What churches do is up to them. We’re just after fair treatment and the multitude of benefits that heterosexual couples married by the state or church enjoy.” Then within the space of two breaths she said, “If the government or the church were to call unions in the church something different from those made by the state it creates a separate and unequal situation. We aren’t second class citizens.” She went on to say; however, that “I don’t believe the state can pass any laws regarding a church.” They destroy their own position with statements like this. They try to stand on the center of a line, and they fail to make sense by doing so. They know they cannot force the church to recognize them, but they are not willing to accept a redefinition of civil marriages. This is a self-defeating stance. They need to accept what they are really pressing for and clearly understand what it is they seek before they cry about injustice.

The second thing about this issue is how many people seem to think the majority of people are for gay marriage. I would have told you a few months ago that I believed more people supported gay marriage than clearly do. What the issue with the California marriage ban has shown us is we were mistaken. Some people howl about bigotry and the like, but the message here is very simple. The majority of people in one of the most liberal states have said they do not want to allow gays to be joined as couples.

There is some question about the actual legality of this ban, but regardless of whether or not the ban is upheld an important battle has been won here. Those of us, who have resisted the vocal minority, have seen in this that noise does not mean numbers in this. The majority is not what society would like us to believe.

[Alex Thomas is a freshman at UNL]