On June 26, 2015, gay marriage was legalized in the United States of America. The news was everywhere. Many people like me rejoiced, not because I'm gay, but because love won that day, pure and simple. Finally my friends could and eventually did get married without hassle, without harassment, without a legal battle; they just went and got their paperwork like everyone else and went off to start their married lives. Did it affect me because they did it? Did my whole world change? Did the heavens come crashing down around us all? Er...no.
For all of those raging and perhaps still raging against the idea of legalized gay marriage, I ask, really, what has changed? What permanent damage has been caused to you and your family by some random people out in the world getting married? I would venture to say that just over a year later, in 2016, not too many people genuinely give a crap about gay marriage...and I mean that in a good way. If I asked most American's to list the top five things as a country they are worried about going into the election year, some dudes or some chick's getting married probably wouldn't even be in the top ten.
I find it hard to see people rallying so hard against gay marriage when straight marriage is essentially failing and not some glowing bastion of light and love and family values that it was once perceived to be. The number of straight couples marrying has gone down from 8 for every 1,000 to 6 for every 1,000. Not really a record to be so proud of and there are no signs of marriage going on the upswing as of yet. Also that whole businesses and churches being "forced" to cater to gay couples...I mean honestly, unlike skin color that you can see, if a person walks in and asks for a cake or some flowers, do you ask them, hey are you gay?
No, if you like being in business you just take their money and fill your pocket books and pay your kids tuition bills and life goes on. Doesn't mean you agree or condone what they are doing, you just need a job and to pay your bills. I mean if you're really going to go into I must approve of the lifestyles of everyone I serve, what do you know about your straight patrons...how many of them are pedophiles, how many of them beat up people, how many of them are seedy Enron types...do you have to agree with all their life choices as well or interrogate them to serve only some selective list and then because you do it, then maybe other businesses should do the same to you if they don't approve of what you do. You see, it doesn't end well.
When it comes to a law on the books, you will generally always have two sides, those who oppose and those that agree with it, and part of being an American is having the right to do so, but all this, the world is going to end, or businesses and churches are going to be burdened, really isn't a thing that's been happening. And besides, churches have never been welcoming to all kinds, so at this point it's not really a surprise for an institution that has on their own books, love thy neighbor, that at every opportunity so many neglect to do so without certain stipulations, so pot calling the kettle black when it comes to "following rules."
I'm at least glad to see that more and more people care less and less about gay marriage being this big thing and have retreated more to the old, 'eh, whatever,' status that it should have to anybody not personally involved in these people's lives. Whenever there is change people always tend to overreact and freak out because they don't know what will happen, but a year later, things are largely the same except now some extra people can get married.
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