Sometimes, you just have to rant

I know this blog is supposed to be about the dogs, with a little smattering of TV fandom and adventures with vermin thrown in, but every once in a great while I read something in the paper or see something on the news that sends me flying right up onto my soapbox at roughly the speed of light. Since my friends and family now run for the hills when they see the sudsy podium come out, I'm left to rant about it on my blog. So if you're looking for the usual corgi-related content, this post doesn't have any.
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Most of the time, I'm tempted to think that here in New England, we tend to be a bit more practical than other places about allowing people to do their own thing, most especially here in Maine. We've got a reputation for being rugged, independent, no-nonsense kind of people. We're stubborn, and proud, and largely unimpressed with wealth or education or "social standing" as a measure of personal worth. Because of that, it always surprises me -- though perhaps it shouldn't -- when I read something like this:

http://knox.villagesoup.com/Government/story.cfm?storyID=170976

I mean, really, Maine? More than 100,000 signatures to force a referendum to repeal Maine's new same-sex marriage law? And in only five weeks?

I will absolutely NEVER understand why the people of Group A assume that they are so morally superior to the people of Group B that they are entitled to decide how Group B gets to live their lives. Especially when Group B's choice of lifestyle LITERALLY has absolutely nothing to do with Group A!!!!!!!!!

How on earth does one member of Group B marrying another member of Group B in any way affect Group A? Group A members are still free to marry one another; no one has taken that -- or anything else -- away from them. And yet, they run around like Chicken Little, proclaiming that the sky is falling, that their marriages are somehow denigrated, and acting as though THEY are the aggrieved parties here!

"But marriage is sacred!" Yeah? Sorry, but -- in a word -- BULLSHIT. No institution that can be entered into based on a reality show is "sacred." No institution that is mined for TV ratings is "sacred." No institution that can be officiated over by an Elvis impersonator or ended with two signatures on a piece of paper is "sacred." Yet somehow, as far as Group A is concerned, it's okay for any old reprehensible reality show contestant to marry any other reprehensible reality show contestant. It's okay to stumble drunk to an altar in Vegas, or get a divorce three days after the wedding, or to join into a legal union for any number of stupid-ass reasons. Hey, just as long as they're not both dudes!

So, to Group A: It is None. Of your. Business. It does not affect your ability to marry. It does not take away any of the rights you enjoy under that union. It does not render your marriage null and void. It literally has NOTHING to do with you.

It's very simple. Seriously. Don't agree with same-sex marriage? Then don't marry someone of the same sex. See? Easy!

*stepping down off soapbox*