JACKSON, Miss. —A pastor protested a ruling lifting Mississippi’s ban on same-sex marriage by dressing a horse in a wedding gown. The Rev. Edward James stood alongside the horse around noon Friday outside the Federal Courthouse in Jackson. He held up a sign that said, “Marriage is one man and one woman. Anything else is a perversion.”
It fascinates me that so many Christians seem so thoroughly and completely threatened by the idea of same-sex marriage. I hear words like “sin,” “abomination,” and “perversion” tossed around as if the idea of two people loving one another and committing to spend their lives together is somehow a bad thing. It’s like they refuse to understand that marriage is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, intended for the propagation and raising of child…and nothing else.
Even worse, those Social Conservatives concerned about what others do behind closed doors feel their superior morality allows them to dictate what constitutes “marriage”…as if heterosexuals have uniformly respected the sanctity of the institution. There are those, like Rev. James, who have no qualms about dictating to others what there marriage must look like. And there are those like me who’d happily tell the Reverend to deposit his self-righteous, judgmental, intolerance where the sun doesn’t shine. He may believe himself to be a morally superior being and therefore possessed of the right to tell others how and who they’re permitted to love. For my part, I’d submit that Rev. James is only revealing himself to be representative of a God who’s a mean-spirited, vindictive S.O.B.
Marriage is about SO much more than raising children. If you define marriage so narrowly that you believe raising a family to be the primary purpose, would you deny marriage to me? I’ve never had children, nor do I have any desire to raise a family, and yet I’m getting married in August. Does my lack of desire to raise a family render my commitment invalid, somehow “less than” couples who desire to start a family?
Marriage is absolutely about children and families…but that’s only part of the package. Marriage is about two people expressing a desire to make a lifetime commitment to one another. It’s about love, and sharing, and giving of oneself in order that your partner feel loved and supported. It’s about being loved in return, and being supported as you chase your own hopes and dreams. It’s about two people carving out a life together, sharing and supporting one another through the good times and bad. It’s about being a friend.
Ultimately, who or how you love isn’t what’s truly important. No, what’s paramount is that you DO love, in whatever form and fashion feels right. The gender of the person you love is far less important than that your love is genuine, heartfelt, and mutual. How and why that shouldn’t be celebrated is something I simply can’t wrap my head around.
What marriage isn’t is something to be narrowly defined by a hateful, hyper-religious bigot who believes himself morally superior and therefore possessed of the right- nay, the oligation- to dictate to others.
Then again, if Rev. James is a Christian, I’m the Duke of Earl. His black heart and hateful judgment have nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ, and my hope is that good and decent Christians will see him for the jackass and circus sideshow he is.
Love is love, beautiful in whatever form it takes. There are no rules, nor should there be. Neither Rev. James nor anyone else has the right to dictate when love and marriage “should” be. The sooner the haters recognize that, the sooner they can begin focusing on things they should be concerned about…like trying to lead a Christ-like life.
