A reader asks Matt whether he supports the right to gay marriage.
Matt responds:
I believe that all people are created equal. That is the cornerstone of living together in a democracy.
I also remember that when Christ was asked about giving tribute to Caesar, he asked for a coin, which had an image of Caesar on it, and said, “Give unto Caser the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
My personal opinion is that whatever attitude falls within the concept of how we govern ourselves as people, should be respected by the community we live in. If we allow certain privileges or norms within the framework of our laws, heritage, and culture, it seems that there should not be exceptions.
Once you start making exceptions, then a dictator can start adding to that list, and all of a sudden we find ourselves being thrown into the ovens.
The different hybrids of discrimination always come back to bite all people, not just the minority. In modern-day language they call it “unintended consequences.”
The issue of home ownership, for example, or of Social Security benefits, comes into play. People who are living together, who have formed a life together over long periods of time, who own property together—why wouldn’t they be able to assume custodial care of one another? Why wouldn’t they be entitled to pensions and other aids that we give comparable people?
Unfortunately, these decisions very often become politicized, and that bothers me. Everyone becomes either for or against a particular sort of citizen...
I always think back to George Washington’s words of caution about political parties. He feared that if you allowed politics into governing, then at a certain point, the party will become more important than the country.
When it comes to these issues, the politics and debate of it become much more strident. The other reality is that people who are living these issues in their everyday lives deserve a full debate, a full discussion, and then a consensus, so that everyone knows where they are.
As I watch television and read the newspaper, I see that there are people running from state to state to state, looking for the best laws to live under. That seems strange to me in a society where we’re all supposed to be basically on the same page as the United States of America, but maybe that’s the way it plays itself out...
I know that for me, I’m fortunate not to have to worry about this. Rose and I have been married 55 years, and we don’t have to be worried about pension rights.
For other couples that are not within the so-called traditional categories, it must be an additional strain that our laws put our fellow citizens through.
I haven’t studied this because it’s not in my field, but a democracy is for all people, so are we discriminating, and if we are, shouldn’t we do something about that?
When I think about the inequities for different races and how long it took us to do away with slavery, it really was a horrible blot on our democracy.
In many ways, my life is a lot easier than people who are immersed in these very complicated applications of democracy. But I really and truly believe that even though we are all different, we’re also all important, and we’re all God’s creatures, whether we like it or not. We all stand under the same umbrella.
Matt