Tuesday, July 09, 2019

The Case For Same-Sex Marriage




In June of 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, with a 5-4 decision, essentially delineating that gay marriage enjoys equal status with traditional marriage between man and woman.

This issue is so loaded with heavy paradoxes, one wonders how it continues to float.

Many supporters of the ruling were beaming with almost unexplained bliss and pride, like heaven had been opened to them. No problem there. Man is known to welcome temporal bounty like there Is no tomorrow, or like it is the be-all and end-all of existence.

Yet the cause of happiness can be explained in such a manner as to show the resultant over-celebration as undeserved because the decision was far from convincing, though still historic. Far from being unanimous, a 9-man court of the US all appointed for life by the US president, religiously divided into 6 Catholics and 3 Jews, voted 5-4 to grant equal status to gay marriages with traditional marriages the latter strongly espoused and supported by all major religions, like Catholicism and Judaism. And if I may add, equal only with regard to enjoyment of benefits dispensed by the Federal bureaucracy. They could not have ruled about its cultural, religious, and yes, even biological ramifications, because after all that would be obviously beyond the purview of that court.

Anyway, the hairline decision came because 2 Catholic court members decided to break away from traditional teaching of their religion. Kennedy many say was simply being true to form, taking sides away from traditional or classical truths espoused by the citizenry. The other, Sotomayor, most likely because she is most liberal having been appointed by the Obama administration, to represent two minorities, women and Hispanic.

The more impactful thing here is that because of the role of the US in the world, this will open the floodgates for the rest of the world with regard to this issue. A paradox indeed, germinated by an unconvincing decision riddled with dissension not only from the court’s own members, but also the citizenry. Although the recent trends as reflected by survey polls now show majorities of people around the world favoring gay marriages, not only in the US but in other parts of the world.

As a species we continue to be an enigma.