Coming from a liberal this may sound pretty hypocritical. Mind you, as a liberal one must always be conscious of and negotiate the paradox of liberalism – tolerate everything, only be intolerant of intolerance. I heard today about the church’s objections to gay marriage, and was struck with rage. It’s a complicated argument of course, and I can’t pretend to have heard all the perspectives, but what gives religious people the idea that they have the authority to pronounce who can and cannot marry? Leaving aside the fact that marriage is an outdated and often repressive institution, the fact remains that, if two people love each other, then they should be free to hold any ceremony they wish. After all, as I learned today, the concept of marriage is not fixed; it has evolved over time. There are no set rules governing what constitutes marriage, so in these postmodern enlightened times, the idea that a bunch of conservative bigots who think they can force their narrow-minded ideas on others by invoking a book of bronze-age fairy stories should be allowed to dictate who can and cannot marry appals me. If marrying and having the status of a married couple makes two people happy, then let them. I don’t see how that effects anybody else, unless some feel the urge to impress their homophobic beliefs on others so violently that they seek to oppose equality, ay rights and minority rights in general at all costs. Frankly, part of me wonders why we are still listening to the church at all, when, if you think about it, what they say is based on outdated beliefs and discredited myths.