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I have heard countless interviewees on the news lately claiming that the reason homosexuals should not be allowed to marry is because “we want to keep marriage traditional, all we want is to continue with the way it has always been.” This seems to be the prevailing argument. Most people opposed to gay marriage seem to feel that this is a justified statement, or at least that it’s better than outright declaring their disdain or bigotry towards people who are gay.

I am a middle class white man, raised in a Christian home, which puts me in the majority majority of majorities in the United States of America. I would like to address my fellow Americans who firmly believe that we should not break with tradition, one group at a time. Let’s review what tradition has done for humanity:

To those American Blacks opposed:

Sixty years ago you were considered filthy, less than human, so much so that whites wouldn’t even drink water from the same source as you. One hundred fifty years ago you would have been slaves, nothing more than possessions, only as valuable as the amount of work you could produce. Should America have stuck with that tradition? You argue that “the people have spoken” as the majority of Californians have decided that gays should not be married. Blacks never were and still today are not a majority, so it was a white majority who was forced to accept the (very real) fact that blacks are equal to whites. Did the nation get that wrong?

To those Asian Americans opposed:

You were worked to death to build our railroads. We imprisoned you even while we were fighting against Germany for doing the same to the Jews. Now many of you are among our most prolific, skilled and educated. Should we not have let that happen? Should we put you to work to build our upcoming new high speed railroads? That is what keeping with tradition would mean.

To those Mexican immigrants and all other latecomers to the party opposed:

We’re happy to have you clean our hotel rooms, look after our children and build our skyscrapers, but only for a meager penance. And what do we give you in return? You’re treated as criminals, locked up or deported. Should we continue with that tradition as well?

To those Christians, those Catholics, opposed:

I am sorry to say that I believe you are the root of this evil. It is your blind faith in a book so many of you haven’t even read that puts you in such opposition to what “God” says is a sin. If tradition were to be held true, you would all deserve a solid death at the hands of Romans, each and every one of you stoned or crucified. How can a people of such persecution now turn their backs on the greatest man of their teaching? What would Jesus do? He loved whores, mingled with lepers and thieves. His main crew was a bunch of rowdy sailors. Do you honestly believe he would find opposition to people living happily, as his Father made them?

To those Jews opposed:

C’mon, wtf here? For God’s chosen people you’ve obviously been given the bunk ticket. After all of the slavery, holocaust, stereotyping, how can you sleep at night wishing unhappiness on others?

Apart from perhaps my own race and gender, nearly every type of American today has had ancestors or has personally been kept down by a majority who were not in the moral right. Sadly, it seems that the majority never are in the moral right. We’re just the majority, so it’s easy to believe we’re right.

It’s time to stop this silliness. My children will look back on our generation and, just as we look back on the Civil Rights movement of the ’60s, wonder how in the world we were so ignorant of the obvious reality. I only hope that they’ll also be able to look back, as I can on my parents, and say “Well, at least they had the good sense to come around and realize.”