ULISH CARTER
There’s been a whole lot of controversy over gay marriage of late but what about Live Ins?
Why do married couples receive special treatment when unmarried couples who pay the same taxes and some, probably more, into benefits packages, don’t.
Live Ins are what I call people living together, raising their kids, who aren’t married. Shouldn’t they get the same privileges as married couples get when it comes to health and other benefits?
If you are taking religion out of marriage, which is why gay couples can’t get married in the first place, why not Live Ins? Politics and religion are supposed to be separate in this country yet many of our laws are based on religious values or beliefs.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any problem with people of the same sex getting married, as long as it’s not in the church. And churches are not forced to marry same sex couples if their beliefs are that it’s a sin. No privilege should be taken away or given to a person because of his or her sexual preferences, as long as both parties are over 21 and consent.
Gay marriage will eventually be approved by every state just like laws affecting women and Blacks. But the bigger issue is taking religion out of government or laws. For every one gay person who wants to be married I bet there’s 100 or more that don’t. But government is forcing them into marriage because of the lack of benefits.
If two people are living together and can prove it, why can’t the one with the better health care insurance add the other to his or her benefits? And if one dies why can’t the other receive all the benefits a spouse would receive.
In the latest stats, it’s said that 67 percent of all American households are headed by women, and 74 percent of Black households. I beg to differ.
Many if not most of these households have men living in them but they aren’t married to the woman. And in many cases the two are raising children. The older kids are generally the woman’s by another man and the younger ones by the one she’s living with.
If you talk to the majority of people in this country they have lived with their mother and a boyfriend, or boyfriends. Or their mother and father lives together but isn’t married.
The argument is that if you love them then marry them. Well love, lust, nor money has been able to keep marriages together in this country. Nearly 60 percent end in divorce. So why do so many privileges go with marriage.
I’m just saying let’s keep the playing field level. Take religion out of government. Yes, it should be a guideline for right and wrong but if there’s no victim then don’t make it illegal. That’s why I feel drugs should be legalized. I believe gambling should be legalized. I believe prostitution should be legalized, as long as the people are consenting adults over 21.
Oh, I’m sorry. Gambling is now legal in Pennsylvania and most other states. But remember the big battle over legalizing gambling. The world was going to come to an end. Marriages would be broken up. Yes, some marriages have but the world is still spinning.
I just think that if I’m paying taxes, and I’m over 21 the government shouldn’t be telling me how to live, as long as I’m not hurting anyone. And if a woman and I , or a man and I want to live together then we should have the same rights as everyone else.
What about gay couples who don’t want to get married? They can’t get a word in edgewise. They don’t want to blow it for the others but they have to be concerned with marriage now being forced down their throats.
From a Christian viewpoint in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus makes his views on marriage and divorce very clear. And as a Christian, I should have the right to voice these views. But this is what the churches should be getting out to their members and the community as a whole, not the government forcing couples to get married by withholding benefits.
A couple doesn’t have to be married to love each other. They don’t have to be married to love their children. There are an abundance of couples who have been together for years and are doing just fine, while raising great kids. Just like there are single moms, and single dads doing it. And there are some terrible kids coming from two parent homes, as well as the others.
I’m not knocking marriage. It’s great. Marriage is not about health benefits or any other privileges, but if you are going to give them to so-called straight couples then they should go to gay couples as well as people living together. Otherwise it’s separate and unequal.
Let’s separate Church and State. The Church needs to start doing its job and the State do its job. The Church and people of the church must follow the teachings of the Bible. Everyone else should do what they believe is right. God gave us free will so we can choose to love him and do his will, not force us to do his will. It’s time for government and politicians to do the same, and the state to stop trying to do it for God.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
Your comments are welcome.
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