Where is the Love?

I am hugely annoyed. This morning on the news, I saw Mitt Romney saying that he did not support same sex marriage. I suppose that this was to be expected. Obama supports same sex marriage so, by default, Romney will be against it.

But this whole issue has got me thinking, why the hell is this still being debated? It should be a no-brainer. You should be allowed to get married to whoever the heck you want, regardless of your sexuality. Who are these bloody politicians to dictate to people who they can or can't marry?

I think the thing that upsets me most about this situation is that the US is meant to be the "land of the free" and yet many state governments are willing to deny those who don't adhere to the "norm" the freedom to get married to whoever the hell they want.

South Africa is hardly guilt free in this regard. Our townships are plagued by "corrective rapes", where lesbian women are being gang raped to "cure" them of their sexuality. Our Chief Justice is a narrow minded, Bible hugging lunatic whose conservative stance on women's rights and sexual orientation have raised more than a few eyebrows. Mogoeng is a pastor at a church which claims that homosexuality is a "perversion" and that it is possible to "cure" a person of their homosexuality. Jon Qwelane, South Africa's ambassador to Uganda, is a raging homophobe( Uganda is considering passing legislation that will sentence "serial offenders" of homosexuality to death). In 2006, Jacob Zuma described same sex marriage as "a disgrace to the nation and to God".

Another thing that gets my goat is the reaction of the religious crazies. To be fair, not all religious people are nuts but the one that are, are scary. The whole Christian argument that "the Bible is against homosexuality" doesn't cut it for me. I thought the Bible also talked about loving your neighbour and all that. I saw some of the most asinine arguments on news24 on Thursday. Seriously, I was sitting there with my mouth wide open, catching flies. One woman said that she was worried about using public bathrooms and changing rooms because she was afraid of being ogled by a lesbian. Another argued that homosexuals shouldn't be able to adopt a child because the child would grow up in an "unstable" home life and that "it's likely that they will raise a homosexual child". Then, the comment that quite literally made me shudder, "how am I supposed to explain to my child that two men are getting married?" I would think that the explanation would be the same as that given for a heterosexual couple getting married.

The world is a crappy place and life is hard enough as it is. I think that instead of making those who have been lucky enough to find love, we should celebrate it in whatever form it takes.