The religious right seems ripe with hypocrisy in regards to this whole gay marriage thing. On the one hand, they are up in arms about the right to express their beliefs, but on the other hand they forget about my rights UNDER THE LAW. So let's take a look at the hypocrisy trail mix that the religious right has cooked up regarding this hot topic.

The religious right often cites "traditional marriage" as their justification for stealing away the civil rights granted to gay and lesbian citizens in regards to marriage. What they fail to recognize is that their own holy book - the bible - has very little precedent for the "one man, one woman" model of marriage. Polygamy and incest seem to be more of the traditional marriage models and yet, they are not advocating for the ability to marry multiple partners. Hypocrisy count 1.

Additionally, their so called "traditional marriage model" has been failing them at a rate of more than 50% (divorce statistics, blah, blah) and yet they speak of creating stable family models for children. If they really cared about children they would be driving parenting classes, marriage counseling classes, marriage training courses and outlawing divorce to make solid marriages that last a lifetime. Seems like they want the freedom to get out of them more than they are willing to give others the right to enter them.

Then there's the argument that gay marriage will squelch their freedom of speech. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. No church in this country is compelled to marry anyone at all - thanks to the freedom of religion granted to us by our constitution. No church will ever lose its tax free status for refusing to marry a gay couple. Anyone who has ever tried to marry someone out of their faith knows for a fact that churches can discriminate against who they chose to marry without any punishment under law. But the religious right takes it further. Apparently their version of "Freedom of Speech" involves them being able to encode their personal beliefs in law even if it infringes on or takes away the rights of others. Oh, and we are supposed to shut the hell up - because to argue against their view infringes on their freedom of speech (according to them.) News flash! Freedom of speech means that you can say what YOU want and I have the right to say what I want AT THE SAME TIME!

Plainly put, the arguments against same-sex marriage rights is rooted in fear and its nastier cousin, hate. LGBTQI people have been described as abominations, worthy of being put to death in their holy books that they describe as the unquestionable word of God. They dehumanize us, and view us as deviants, sexual predators and worse. So they vilify that which they do not understand. If it's not human, then it doesn't deserve human rights.

This is always the way that society justifies a person not receiving full rights - by subhumanizing them. It happened to Native Americans. It happened to Women. It happened to African Americans. It happened to Chinese immigrant workers. It even happened to the Japanese in WWII. True, being LGBTQI isn't a race - but our subhumanisation by society is equivalent to what has happened to other persecuted minorities and because of this we should all stand together in solidarity against fear, hate and discrimination.