In support of equality

I do not want to look a gift horse in the mouth. I am extremely happy that we have someone who is not Bush going into the Whitehouse in January. I am ecstatic that he is a democrat who claims to plan on addressing the state of healthcare in this country. I am in awe of the historic significance of electing a minority, a black man, to the presidency for the first time in American history. But all this happiness and hope and optimism is tainted by the ignorance, self-importance, and just plain nosy rudeness displayed by voters who assert that marriage (or even parenthood) is a narrowly defined right only to be granted to those who fit their image of right and wrong.
I know we have all heard these arguments before but I am hurt and I feel betrayed and I want to talk about it again. So here we go.
First of all, in this fine country of ours, all over the country, we have this little thing we call equal rights. And there was a historic case in which we struck down "separate but equal." Civil Unions are the poor minority schools of this equation. They are not as good and everyone knows it. So don't try to argue that gays can just get a civil union and call it a day.
Another common way to attempt to win this argument is to bring God into it. Now I make every effort to live my life in a way that brings God's goodness into the world and I am not in the least being sarcastic when I say that. Whatever or whoever God is to you, it is the same message of love and forgiveness and hope, and faith in the human spirit that drives people to and within religion. And I am not going to argue about what the bible says concerning marriage and homosexuality or whether it is to be read literally, I am simply going to make two points.
First, whatever the bible may say about the definition of marriage or about homosexuality, it says far more about love for all of humanity, and forgiveness and reserving the judgment of others for God. So whatever message you have gleaned from the bible, these important, oft repeated, overarching themes must take precedence in your life.
Second, in addition to equal rights we have something else in this country called the separation of church and state. That is why, if you are married by a member of the clergy, your officiant will name both God and the state as having separately granted them the authority to unite you in marriage. So if marriage is only a sacred sacrament to be administered and defined by God, then the state has no business giving marriage licenses to ANYONE, Gay or Straight and “marriage” should have no legal definition and remain entirely in the realm of religion.
The United Sates of America should not be in the business of dictating morality. It is a government. A secular Government which was created to allow people the freedom and responsibility of making their own moral choices. Not for their neighbors; not for their siblings; not for their coworkers, and not for their friends, but for themselves alone.
So even if you believe that homosexuality is wrong and that God gave the sacrament of marriage as a gift to bless the union of a man and a woman I do not see how that puts you in a position to legislate morality to the other citizens of your state or of this country. If the sanctity of marriage is threatened by its application to two consenting adults, then perhaps the fight should be to remove the label “marriage” from the public realm and rename the legal contract by which we recognize the commitment of two people. Because this is not about semantics, this is about rights and equality and I hope that in this, the twilight of a historic milestone in the struggle for equality, we do not lose sight of the ideals we are so proud to watch come to fruition.