Constitutionality of Gay Marriage

Gay marriage tends to be a very touchy subject, with some very extreme responses. On our left, we have out favorite liberal loons, who want you to be able to marry anything and everything as long as it has a pulse, and even that is subjective! On our right, we have the Religious Right, a.k.a. the citizens of Jesusland, who apparently think that the Bible is more important than the fact we have a separation of church and state.

Well guess what you two: you're both wrong. The fact is that if we make a law allowing Gay Marriage, it will get shot down by the Supreme Court since it is unconstitutional. Let me explain.

Under the 1st Amendment, we have the "freedom of religion". Most people take this as a one-way street, saying that they can choose any religion, or even not have a religion. This is true. However, there is another side to this. Notice it says freedom of religion. This means that religions are free from the government. Therefore, the government can not create a religion, and can not influence religions (the exception of course being that of human or animal abuse, otherwise anything is really allowed)? If we were to pass a law saying that homosexuals can get married, this would basically be government regulation of religions. This is unconstitutional, the government can not regulate religions, and any such law would be basically the same as spitting on the constitution. So the question becomes: what do the gays do?

The answer to this is the civil union. I know, I know, everyone is yelling "separate but equal!!" but that is not what this is. Anyone who wants a civil union can have one. Now I know civil unions don't give the same rights as marriages do. Well, we make it so that a civil union and a marriage are exactly the same. The only difference is that one is done by a judge, and one is done by a member of a clergy of some sort. You would have to go through the exact same channels, no matter what you are getting. Now I am not saying that a religion can't marry gay people if they do want to. If they find a church that is willing to marry them, then they will be seen as married in the eyes of the State, as long as they went through the proper channels to do so.

Both sides have been fighting tooth and nail for this, and its about time out leaders step up and do something about it. The above is really just a basic overview of a compromise I'm sure that both sides would be fine with, if they both would at least be willing to talk. Let's hope our leaders are smart enough to actually get this done.