Marriage equality continues to be a controversial topic; it is one of the primary battlegrounds in America's ongoing "culture wars."
Rick Santorum, Pat Robertson, Rand Paul and other leading intellectual lights in American politics have all warned of the principle danger in permitting same-sex marriage: it will lead to human-animal marriage.
The argument came to the fore again this week, when House Candidate Phil Berger Jr. told a sixth grade class in North Carolina that same-sex marriage would be like "a man marrying a dog."
To this chorus of negativity, I can only quote from State Senator Jason Crowell of Missouri:
"If not now, when?
If not us, who?"
Of course, I'm not advocating human-dog marriage ... that would be absurd. No dog could ever be trained to sign a marriage license. We should not be so quick to judge, however, the strong relationships that can build between two primates.
We know that when two close-specied individuals are thrown together in an intense workplace environment, what starts as a professional relationship can evolve; first to interest, then to affection, then to passion.
And when those feelings of love and trust are betrayed, how pain, tears, anger, and rage can follow.
This is my call to Messrs. Santorum, Robertson, Paul, and Berger: open your eyes and hearts to all the mysteries of love. Stop discriminating against those with prehensile feet and hairy backs.
We've all been there before.
I would like to thank staff member Julia Klonopin for her assistance in developing these thoughts over the past month.
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