Illinois Amendment Banning Gay Marriage Won't Make Ballot

Gay marriage opponents have failed to get an amendment banning same-sex marriage on the ballot in Illinois this November, according to a recent Chicago Sun-Times article. They got the 330,000 signatures, but a sample was found to have only about 91% of the signatures valid, short of the necessary 95%. Illinois actually already prohibits same-sex marriage, due to a 1996 law, but the Christian right fears that courts might realize how idiotic it is and overturn it.

There are a number of arguments against same-sex marriage, many of them having to do with deities not liking it and it causing disruptions to opposite-sex marriages across the country. Sometimes opponents try to ground their arguments in reality, resulting in strange statements like: "Marriage exists solely for procreation," an idea used in Washington, or "Gay marriage is harmful for children."

The idea that marriage exists only for the creation of children is one that would lead to other strange ideas. When a woman reaches menopause, should she automatically have to divorce, so long as her children are grown? Can you marry if you're sterile? Should married couples have to have children?

Of course not. They're all remarkably stupid ideas, ones that would never be accepted in the U.S. for at least decades. But if marriage exists for the sole purpose of creating more children, then those ideas would logically follow.

Likewise, countless things are bad for children, such as racism in schools, wars, poverty, and the high cost of education. No one of the Christian right would suggest the U.S. renounce war, or become a communism, though it is hard to see how that would harm children. Apparently though, having parents of the same sex could do awful things to the minds of these youth, things more awful than being discriminated against when they grow up and not being allowed to marry someone they love solely because they are gay.

There is no logical reason for banning gay marriage, and every reason to allow it. Illinois should overturn their law that prohibits it, and the many other states that have similar laws should do the same, which they will of course do, because it is of course inconceivable that a government official would make decisions affecting so many people based on his religious beliefs.

Tags: Politics, Current Events, Current Affairs, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Gay marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, Illinois