Gay Marriage--Brienne

Gay rights is a subject that is very close to my heart, as I have family members who are gay and I feel that they deserve the same rights as straight people. I feel that being gay is not a choice mainly because I do not know one person who would choose to endure the hoops homosexuals have to jump through if they could choose not to do so. I also don't understand when conservatives use the Bible to defend their position on homosexuals. The Bible says so many things that are irrelevant in today's society. Then people say that those things are in the old testament, but there is nothing about gay marriage in the new testament either, so it really confuses me. Therefore, this topic is something that I am paying attention to in this presidential election. Obama, I feel, has the best, most realistic views and ideas regarding this subject. Barack Obama feels that gay people should have the same rights as straight people but that gay marriage is not that important. He feels like civil unions and giving rights is really all the change that our country can handle at this point, which is certainly true. Complete change cannot come overnight. It is something that will have to come gradually over time, very similar to civil rights in the past. He also thinks that gay marriage should be something that is recognized by individual churches, not by the state, basically saying that this shouldn't be a government issue, which is another thing that I completely agree with. Many conservatives say that they do not believe in gay marriage because it says that it is wrong in the Bible. Well, aside from the fact that this is certainly debatable, in this argument you are conflicting church and state, which are supposed to be separated. If you do not agree with gay marriage, that is fine. However, there shouldn't be a law against it, which is why Obama voted against the constitutional ban on gay marriage. Similarly to abortion, Hillary Clinton has the same views as Barack Obama. However, she has been back and forth. In 2004, she defended traditional marriage and then in 2006 defended gay marriage. John McCain has also been extremely indecisive. He has voted yes to prohibiting same-sex marriages, but then no to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. This is one of the many topics in which McCain is more of a middle man between the right wing and the left wing. He also thinks that gay marriage legality should be left up to the states. It seems like all of these candidates are somewhat open minded to gay marriage, which really says something of our country. It shows that we are growing as a whole, even when we are separated in two parties. It shows that we are becoming more tolerant of others.