I just wrote this for a Whirlpool post – thought I should save it here as well.
I am against gay marriage. I am pro gay civil union, with exactly the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual marriage. I decided to try to explain it in the context of motorsport:
Way back before the dawn of time, a motor racing series was created called the Folden race series. Only Fords and Holdens were allowed to compete.
Then Toyota came along and said they’d like to compete too. The Ford and Holden owners were quite happy with their race series – the two types of cars were very closely matched, the drivers loved it and the racing was very close so they didn’t wany to upset the delicate balance they’d created. They also quite rightly said that if Toyota were allowed to compete it wouldn’t be the Folden series any more. Toyota had a big teary and said that they were being discriminated against.
The Ford and Holden owners were quite happy to create a new series, with exactly the same rules, so that everyone could race against each other but they wanted it to be called something else like maybe the Unified race series. That way the Ford and Holdens who wanted to keep competing in their Folden series could keep on doing so, but the Fords, Holdens and Toyotas who wanted to participate in the new series could also race against each other in an inclusive way.
Some of the Toyota owners were quite happy with the new series, it gave them exactly the same opportunities to race as the Fords and Holdens and they had lots of fun.
Unfortunately there were some other vocal Toyota owners who continued to expect the Folden series to let them in because they thought they were missing out on something everyone else had. Perhaps a small part of them was a little jealous that they hadn’t actually bought a Ford or a Holden in the first place.
I don’t care if people call me a bigot. Flame away.