In space, no one can have the sanctity of marriage

I had the recent pleasure of being linked a blog discussing a newspaper article: Go here to read it.

Wow...just wow. Not only is that easily (one of) the worst science fiction stories I've ever heard, but it's also a terrible argument against the legalization of gay marriage. I mean, it falls apart on the logical level before we even get to the astoundingly offensive ideas espoused within.

But it's pertinent to me because it involves the future, marriage, and the rights of men and women and women and women and men and men and cows to get married. Now, I've always been amused by the argument, "Oh, if we let gay people marry, then why can't I marry my dog?"

Well, the obvious logical answer is: Your dog can't consent to be married, in the same way your children can't consent to be married. There is an uneven power dynamic AND a disparity in intelligence and social maturity that makes the entire enterprise problematic. Now, if your dog happened to be as intelligent (and provably so) as a human, I'd say go nuts, marry your dog.

But I'm an odd person.

Frankly, at the end of the day, so long as nothing someone does negatively impacts your life or the lives of others, then we have no moral ground with which to oppose their activity. Two (or three or four or more) consenting sentient life-forms are all we need.

And, as a sci-fi writer, I can more easily imagine a dog who is intelligent than a time where it would be moral to tell these people

That no, they can't get married, they can't have the same rights, the same hopes, the same dreams as you.

There is a reason why I wrote my novel. I had a story to tell. There is a reason why I had my main character be gay. I had a vision for a future: Where we have put these stupid divisions behind us and found reasonable things to be prejudiced about, like political beliefs or whether someone is a cyborg.

Cause there's no way in hell I'm letting those frankenfreak whackjobs live in my neighborhood!