Chewin' a wasp on Call Kaye. (Same Sex Marriage)

Well, when is somebody not chewin' a wasp on there? Call Kaye, BBC Radio Scotland's morning current affairs program and some might say, party political broadcast for the labour party.

This isn't about that though, its about gay marriage. Firstly, I have no interest in it, I'll never do it, which is something I have in common with all those wasp chewing religious types who were phoning in this morning venting their spleens on the topic.

When I said I had no interest, I meant personally, socially speaking, I do. You see, people don't turn gay as an adult, some might come to terms with it then but it'll have been there from the start. The supreme irony here is, people who don't know how this works use the notion of someone 'turning' gay in support of the argument that you're not born that way when the reality is, its the very same prejudice and negativity that drives that person to hide or deny it until adulthood in the first place.

It is an elegant vicious circle.

For me, I'm not concerned about adults in this, its the young people growing up with an alternate & unavoidable sexuality. They are being made to feel so wretched, so abjectly miserable that they see taking their own life as the only option, young people are killing themselves with out even being able to say why; imagine feeling so desperately terrible that in your final moments as you give yourself up to oblivion, even then; you can't bring yourself to tell any one why?

I never quite got as far along that particular route, but I'd be a big fat liar if I denied contemplating it as an option, but as I said, I'm an adult now so please save your concern for someone more deserving.

The debate on gay marriage is an odd one, we have an ideal held by some foisted on a few, about a biological imperative foisted on that few by fate itself. We have two very vocal minorities claiming the moral high ground and a monopoly on reason while in the middle we have a silent majority who don't give a toss. Then in amongst all that, we have a small sliver of our young people listening with growing horror - young gay people in the process of finding out they are not turning into the person wider society expects them to be and more over, coming to realise there is nothing they can do about it but accept a life of vilification.

I haven't read of any young person not being able to come to terms with their religion and taking their own life because of it, marriage is not a religious construct, people have been doing it for centuries, swans do it and I reckon we can assume swans are at the very least agnostic if not atheist in their beliefs. I agree with rights to religious freedom but people have to understand that that franchise stops within your own sphere of existence, you can't foist it on any one else. If you truly believe your faith is being eroded, it says more about your religious fortitude than anything else.

I understand some churches don't want to conduct same sex marriages, to be honest I couldn't understand why a same sex couple would want to press the issue and be married in a setting which does not tolerate their existence, if they were doing it to make a point then its not a point I agree with at all.

This morning on the execrable Call Kaye I found myself in a quandary, there were 77,508 responses to the Scottish Government's same sex marriage consultation. I found myself claiming the rest of the population who didn't respond as being not bothered so basically in favour. I then realised this was hypocritical because I've decried on several occasions the 40% rule imposed on the referendum on devolution that took place in 1979, an explanation of which can be found here. (Very quickly if you can't be arsed, it just meant people who didn't vote were counted as no's so the referendum was lost. a shameless bit of sophistry from the UK at the time.) I'd hate to adopt the same policy to bolster my own points about same sex marriage.

Gordon Wilson, ex-SNP MSP (and leader) was on saying we should have a referendum on the topic, what makes him or any one else think more people would turn out for that than did for the consultation? I suppose it would be more widely advertised but look at the AV or the Police Commissioners referenda that took place (down south); hardly anyone bothered their arses about it. As a measure of feeling it would be meaningless, counting the votes of those who sat at opposite ends of the spectrum and no one in between.

My point is, this debate is adding to the general background hum of disapproval for something we have no control over, fate decides what blows your skirt up, fashion or lifestyle might make you more open-minded but since fate planted that tendency too, its entirely moot. Making young people, children even, feel so excluded, so alone and so hated because a section of society believes in a set of ideals supposedly based on love, forgiveness and acceptance, seems illogical at best and a huge double standard at worst.

Some religions tell young people same sex relationships are unnatural and less deserving of respect than heterosexual affiliations while at the other end of the spectrum, gay pride marches & the media tell them they need to invest in some arseless chaps and adopt an overly camp/butch pretence if they want to fit in.

Ignore all that shite, for that is what it is: shite. I'm not saying it gets better, but there are a hell of a lot of people who are gay who don't want to get married, prefer not to wear tight t-shirts or dungarees, or smear a profundity of product in their hair, you can't see us because we're actually really very normal, which is what you are; don't let any one tell you otherwise.

That is all.