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Monday, December 27, 2010

Marriage

I am incredibly fortunate. I have a wonderful partner. He loves, understands, and supports me. He is caring and generous. He is smart and funny. He is my perfect partner. We have chosen to marry and, thankfully, our marriage is supported. My family loves Philip and his family loves me. We have been very lucky.

We are especially lucky that the government has chosen not to invade our privacy and interfere in our relationship. That's because we are a heterosexual, monogamous relationship. I could not imagine if I would have fallen in love with a woman or if I chose to have a polygamous marriage.

I believe that people should be able to marry whoever they choose. So long as the marriage is between consenting adults, I don't think the government should be able to intervene. I don't care if it is between a man and a woman, two men, two woman, or between 5 different people. If the people involved in that marriage consent to the marriage, the government should butt out.

I don't understand how the government can presume to tell people that homosexuals cannot marry... especially when marriage is becoming a farce as it is. Heterosexuals are doing a fine job of ruining marriage as it is, so I don't see what harm there would be in letting homosexuals marry. I mean, adultery and divorce are sins as well, but I don't see the government trying to make those things illegal either (or at least enforcing laws forbidding those sins).

Who decides which sin is worse? And who decides which ridiculous laws the government is going to try to push? It seems to me that if the government were really trying to act in "defense of marriage," they would outlaw divorce. Wouldn't that make more sense? Don't get me wrong. I am against marriage but I do understand that there are legitimate reasons for divorce (I just wish people didn't get married at the drop of a hat so that marriage would not end in divorce so often). However, I think that divorce does a lot more damage to the idea of marriage than homosexuality does.

There are so many loveless, sexless, hopeless marriages that the government does not try to control... so why should they interfere in a marriage just because 2 men or 2 women are marrying? Who is to say that 2 women or 2 men cannot be just as happy (or happier) than the typical heterosexual couple?

I cannot imagine someone telling me that I could not marry Philip. How would you feel if someone told you that you could not marry your soulmate? It is outrageous.

I know that a lot of people who support gay marriage do not support polygamy. I do. I am not saying that polygamy is going to work for every family. However, I think that people should be able to make their own decisions on how to form their families (within reason -- no family should be allowed to harm their spouse(s) or child(ren)). I think it could be perfectly reasonable for man to have more than one wife or for a woman to have more than one husband. Think of the financial gains for having more than one or two breadwinners in a family. Think of the added help with household chores. Think of the added support for the children in the family.

I know that most people think of the clans that do horrible things to women and children, but this does not have to be the way all polygamous families work. Those clans are disgusting. That's not what I mean when I talk about polygamy. I don't want to see forced marriages or abuse. I'm just saying that polygamy could work in a healthy way.

There is a huge adultery problem in the U.S. I do not condone it, and I would never cheat on my partner, but there is a part of me who understands why some people do seek sex outside of their marriage. People crave variety. If there were multiple partners in a family, that desire for variety could possibly be met (maybe).

Again, I don't think this would work for everyone (or even most people). I don't know very many people who I think could handle a polygamous lifestyle. It would require a certain kind of person to understand and not become jealous of the other wives/husbands in the family. However, I think that people who can be a part of a healthy, polygamous family should be able to do so.

Blech! Now that I've got that all out of my system, I feel much better. Please do comment on the post whether you agree or disagree with anything I've said here. I look forward to seeing opinions! :)

1 comment:

JJ said...

I must agree with what you have said. Likewise, the help out on household chores quite amused me as a reason for polygamy. But yes, I think consenting adults should be allowed to do what they want as long as they are not doing harm to others.