“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”

I actually feel ashamed that there are fair few in the Ubuntu community that would harbour such hostile views.  I can easily imagine having the same conversation 150 years ago talking about black citizens, and having the same difficulty trying to understand why people are so opposed.

And there are so many straw-man arguments given about it.  There always are.  People use their personal disgust about what gay men do in private as justification for them not getting married, or saying it’s not what nature intended.  Guess what, nearly everything we do isn’t what nature intended.  In fact nature doesn’t have an intention, but the same barriers are encountered when trying to explain evolution to creationists.

Bigots will be bigots, haters will hate, people will believe what they want to believe, and it’s very difficult to bring such people around to a more compassionate point of view.  To think people who enjoy one freedom would so happily deny it from another.

And apparently the Bible speaks out against the whole gay world.  Well that’s a whole Pandora’s Box of counter-arguments religious types open because the Bible not only directly contradicts itself well over a thousand times, but it also forbids a wealth of things that pretty much everyone ignores.  As I said, people will believe what they want to believe.

I entirely agree with Jono in his support of equal marriage rights.  You can’t claim to have a civilised society, but decide there are some people who can’t have the same rights as everyone else.  BTW, talking about brothers and sisters marrying is a complete distraction from the debate.   How about “Allowing black people to marry white people?  Where would it end?  Would you allow people to marry swine or horses?  Don’t be so absurd!  Marriage is for white men and women of a certain class.  Don’t ruin marriage for the rest of us by extending it to black people, poor people and even animals.  It will fundamentally damage the heart of our society.”  Yes, insane, which is how these arguments sound, and I’m sure virtually no-one left in the world would think like this anymore.

And telling the government to stay out of the church’s business suggests that marriage should bear no legal rights whatsoever.  If it was entirely the church’s business, the government should revoke all laws relating to marriage and refuse to recognise any marriages.  The government grants those rights, and they have a bearing on inheritance, welfare benefits and many other legal aspects.  And there’s not only one religion, and each religion has its own sub-groups too, with different variations of belief.  For one group to say their view on marriage should be the prevailing one is equally discriminatory.

The argument that gay people are sexual deviants who sleep around as an argument against marriage is a demonstration of ignorance.  MANY heterosexual people sleep around, yet are still granted marriage rights.  Britney Spears was allows to get married on a whim and just have it annulled 3 days later, yet gay couples who have been in a loving relationship together for decades are denied the right to have their relationship recognised as equal to any other heterosexual couple.

If people actually took away the major lessons from their religions, they’d find it’s to treat everyone with respect, help those who need help and let love win over hate.

Please be respectful.  You may not share the same view as others, but it doesn’t mean you have to be insulting, hateful and exclude people.