Douglas Swartz  

On Friday June 13, 2008 Tim Russert died from a heart attack. He was a one of a kind political minded journalist with a fantastic ability to get to the truth fairly and with respect to all. He was simply the best in his field and cannot be replaced.

If every person in the media was like Tim Russert then we would probably not have any corruption in our government because government officials would be held accountable everywhere they turn just as Tim Russert did for decades in his work. If you want to look at an example of what to do and how to do it look at what Tim Russert has accomplished, he will be missed.

Gay marriage is a natural part of human expression. No government or anyone else should ever condemn or try to control any adult’s choice to get married. No limitations should ever be put on matrimony of couples of different races, religions, political affiliations or sexual preferences, it is simply wrong to restrict such a personal choice.

Furthermore no government should place any laws or restrictions on sex as long as it is between consenting adults and not in blatant public view. Our private lives are our own business and our neighbors and government officials have no business in our private lives.

A common legal weapon used to force homosexuals to break the law to have normal gay sex has been outlawing oral sex and sodomy. And sometimes within these draconian laws heterosexual married couples have been prosecuted and jailed for oral sex and sodomy. These frightening examples show clear intent of government officials forcing themselves into our private lives and bedrooms to make snap judgments on what we choose to do alone and this entire way of thinking goes totally against liberty and democracy.

The outlawing or banning of gay marriage and or its pathetic dulled down version of civic unions is only a furthering of one of our last social prejudices “homosexuality.” I fully look at the banning of gay marriages as no different as requiring black Americans to ride in the back of the bus or using a colored only bathroom from the 1950’s. Back then the government was saying through prejudicial laws that blacks are Americans but must be restricted or segregated and I see the similar parallels in today’s banning of gay marriages.

“The don’t ask don’t tell,” congressional compromise is a pathetic example of government policy against homosexuals and its shear lack of personal courage on our lawmakers decision making. This policy limits the civil rights of gays and shows pure politics in dodging the fact that since civilizations beginnings humans have been gay, straight and bisexual and they always will be all three in society and the sooner we destroy this long standing prejudice against gay sex and marriage the better our world will be.

If gay sex has always been in society and always will be in our society then why would anyone try to fight the inevitable truth that our humanity has all three forms of sexuality and marriage between lovers is there acknowledgement of their love? To say al l citizens are free and equal to vote, live, speak no matter what gender, race or religion they are and then to say but gays please sit in the back of the bus and you cannot marry each other is simply void of liberty, and civilized thinking.

As a heterosexual married man and father I see gay and bisexual sex as perfectly normal for those who were born to be gay or bisexual. It is there life, there right, there body and there private business just the same as my life, my right and body are mine to be married and heterosexual is my private business and neither of us need any governmental restrictions what so ever.

If we teach our children to not hate others because of race, religion, appearance or political views but endorse hatred for homosexuality then we also teach our children to be Hypocrites. And to teach children to hate homosexuality before they are old enough to understand the concept of what it is or to start to have the first feelings towards sexuality themselves can only confuse them and their natural discovery in puberty. If children are taught to hate homosexuals and once in puberty realizes that they are gay or bisexual then the parents have just taught the children to hate themselves to go along with all the other difficulties in puberty. If some heterosexuals are totally disgusted by the thought or concept of gay sex then that is there right to feel that way but at the same time they have no right to condemn or vilify it.

The main debate topics of gay marriage are usually morality, sanctity of marriage, religious prejudice and going against nature or the natural process of reproduction. Morality is a great concept and is needed in society but is often used to discriminate unjustly against a group of people totally against liberty and therefore is a flawed way to make important choices for society. Sanctity of marriage is not a valid argument when clearly many marriages are not treated as sacred at all by a lot of married people with large number of marriages failing in divorce or have infidelity. Religious objections to gay marriage have no merits simply because religion is a personal choice and one person’s religion has nothing to do with another person’s private life. Finally homosexuality and bisexuality are normal for gay and bisexual people just as heterosexuality is normal for heterosexuals, they are born that way and it is there natural sexual state.

When you are born no one can say if you will have a desire to eat vanilla ice-cream and not want strawberry ice-cream, only you will know your true desires and it is your life to eat whichever ice-cream you want. In the same respect birth and sexuality is a roll of the dice and gay, straight and bisexual are random, irreversible and perfectly naturally occurring human qualities. So why should society ever challenge or restrict a perfectly naturally part of the human experience that has always been with us and always will be? To ban gay marriage would also be the same as banning blue eyes or brown hair or laughing, so why are we still discussing this issue in respect to politics and or government policy? Government should never think of restricting consenting adults to marry and stay out of our private lives no exceptions or further discussions necessary!!!

With all the problems facing civilization the issue of homosexual prejudice and gay marriage should be forgotten forever, it is a nonissue and a private matter and does not need to be debated at all. Why debate a normal human reoccurring quality that is part of a citizen’s private life? Let’s once and for all say humanity has different skin colors, different religions and different sexual preferences live with it, there is nothing else needed to be said about it and no reason for a law banning gay marriage. In society there should be no closet for gay’s to come out of because they are born that way and it is natural for them just as I was born with brown eyes.