The state of Utah obtained some judicial relief on Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court that momentarily halted the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It came not a moment too soon, as apparently the sky was about to fall on the entire state. Utah's Attorney General had reported that having legalized same-sex marriage had created "chaos and confusion" in the state as government officials scrambled to figure out how to deal with Judge Shelby's ruling that Utah's ban against same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. One man even embarked on a hunger strike until someone put an end to same-sex weddings.
Chaos and confusion? I can only imagine that suddenly after the legalization of same-sex marriages, Utah endured traffic jams, long lines at grocery stores and gas stations, and canceled classes at private and public schools, particularly at Brigham Young University. Permitting a fraction of the adult population to share their life with the person they love through marriage is known for heaping chaos on communities and entire nations.
And the man who was starving himself in protest? Never mind the rapes and tortures, suicide bombings, and millions of families worldwide struggling to survive amid a level of poverty unfathomable in the Western world. Those human crises are far less worthy of protest than the crisis created in Utah by the legalization of same-sex marriages.
Most Utah residents (including those working for the state government) base their opposition to same-sex marriage on the teachings of their religion, Mormonism. It never ceases to amaze me how adherence to the dogma of a mythology can foster such prejudice and hatred for other humans, all the while the followers of such mythologies delude themselves by believing they are "good" people.