New Hampshire has had a reputation of truly living up to their state motto in ways that most states can only hope. With no seatbelt law, personal income tax, or even a sales tax, it is a unique state that has a reputation of bucking the norm for New England states. Yesterday, it got a little freer.
Yesterday afternoon, the Governor of New Hampshire signed the state’s gay marriage bill into law. What I particularly liked was a provision I personally feel is essential in a free society. This provision, which had to be included or the governor would have vetoed it, was that no churches or religious groups would be forced to perform a gay marriage. Separation of Church and State needs to be a two-way street after all, and this law definitely does that.
New Hampshire has just solidified it’s place as one of the few free states in this country, and I sincerely wish that Georgia would follow their lead (complete with that same provision). It doesn’t matter how you feel about homosexuals in general. This is about a person being free to marry whoever they want. It’s not rocket science to see that gays are fighting the same fight that blacks fought in the 1960′s. The right to marry who they want is one of the most fundamental rights, and this nation has been blocking it.
There are no arguments against gay marriage that aren’t based in theology, so let me lay it out this way: God gave us free will. God hasn’t forced himself on people because he wants them to come to him of their own free will. If God, who actually has the power to force people to be pure won’t do it, why should we?
Let gays marry. It’s their choice and not yours to make.
Great post Tom. As a libertarian and as a scientist it is great to see more people standing up for reason, logic, and ethical thinking over religious thinking.
The precedent that John Lynch did for NH was prodigious in its nature to show that ones opinions on others are moot, but that the rights of those people are not up for debate. Each of us has some form of hatred towards another section of humanity, that is our nature.
Hopefully as more examples like Lynch come out in support for LGBT human beings, Obama will awaken from his “separate but equal, “segregationist ideas and see past his religious bias.
No hatred involved. I do think this type of decay, legitimizes perversity. Why stop there? Let’s really be free. Shouldn’t we be free to marry our own mother? My dog? My car?
There is little chance of either side convincing the other. We’ll just have to disagree.