On Tuesday afternoon, a California appeals court finally came to a decision that the banning of same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. This is a great milestone in gay rights in America, but we shouldn’t even be having this problem in the first place. We shouldn’t have to cross our fingers and hope for the best because gay rights are human rights, which all citizens should be allowed to have.

The biggest argument against this is that it doesn’t support the sanctity of marriage — that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination. Nevertheless, it isn’t up to the Bible to decide who can only get married.

I have a gay roommate. His name is Garrett and we get along fine. He doesn’t hit on me, he does not ruin or change my beliefs and he’s a good man that deserves the same rights as I do. Denying him the right to be married to another man or even to fight alongside a straight man in the military would be like denying me the right to marry any race of woman just because it’s against someone else’s religion.

Another fun-fact people should also know is that banning same-sex marriage is definitely a link between church and state, something our government isn’t really supposed to do. The only reason we are having this fight about deciding whether or not there should be same-sex marriage is because we believe marriage is a religious institution.

Is this a government that only fights for their churches? Is this a country of the church, for the church and by the church? No. This is a nation for the people. It has always been that way but still we have to go through this every few decades to let another minority be treated like everyone else.

Marriage isn’t just a religious institution. Atheists get married and I barely see any objection to that. Even though they don’t acknowledge the existence of God (which I would believe is more of an abomination to the religion) atheists are given more rights by religious groups to get married than homosexuals.

I just don’t get why America is so lenient toward religious groups that oppose same-sex marriage. This country was founded to help people escape from religious persecution, but this also protects them from persecution of their beliefs just the same.

Religious groups in America have their right to believe that there should not be same-sex marriage; however, it is not their right to decide whether or not it is legal in America. That is what our country was founded on, the idea that you have a right to believe anything you want. But the government will not help you carry out your beliefs and yours alone, only to protect them without persecution by others.

It sickens me to think that we have come so short since the days when my grandfather couldn’t fight or live near a white man while fighting for a country that did not see him as an equal.