Why I support same-sex marriage

I am a 29 [I wrote this a while ago] year old, straight, married man. I live in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage will come into existence in May. I support same sex marriage. I know what it is like to be in love. I know what it is like to get married and be committed. Do I completely understand why some men are attracted to other men and some women are attracted to other women? No, not really, but that's OK. What I do understand is that gays and lesbians are just as capable of love and commitment as straight men and women. I even have some degree of hope that perhaps gays and lesbians might actually not treat marriage as a disposable thing like many straight couples unfortunately do.

So why do I support gay marriage? I support the rights of two people who love each other and are committed to each other to get married. It makes no difference to me if the two people are the same color or from the same socio-economic background or what gender they are. I think the question is why people don't support gay marriage.

The only argument that I've heard always stems from a religious stance. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Pretty clear there. Religion cannot (and should not) dictate law. Nobody is going to force a particular church to perform same-sex marriages. I disagree with any church whose policy is that homosexuality is wrong or immoral, but I can't force them to change that view. Nobody is forcing those religions to change anything.

An offshoot of the religious argument is that the purpose of marriage is to procreate. This is what gets me angry. The argument can be phrased as "if you don't have or plan on having or can't have children, you shouldn't be married." So if my wife and I choose not to have children, should we not be married? That's downright offensive. Just because a married couple of the same-sex can't biologically have children, that doesn't make them unfit to marry. (Nor does it make them unfit to adopt a child.)

Update

It is July 29, 2005. Someone (named Chip, of course!) happened across the page and dropped me an email. I realized I hadn't updated it in some time. So, it is a year or so later and gays and lesbians have been marrying each other here in Massachusetts left and right. All around me are gay married couples. I'm pleased to report that my "traditional marriage" (that is, I'm a man and married to a woman) is alive and well. Despite the horrible threats that gay marriage would ruin my marriage, it, well, hasn't.