The holdup in getting marriage equality passed is similar in principal to why pot isn't legal yet.

So earlier today, the Supreme Court ruled to make marriage equality legal across the land.  Great! 

But why did it take so long?

Sure the republicans and religious zealots had a hand in it.  But there is also another reason: people actually believing others who were crying that if marriage equality was made law of the land, then people will want to marry things that aren't.... human.

I have a family member that shall remain nameless, that openly expressed concern several times that "If same-sex marriage is made legal then you'll see people wanting to marry their dog, or their cat.... hell I'm willing that bet that some porn addict is going to want to marry his computer!"

Yep, this person actually said that, and sadly many others have shared the same view.  Except it's stupid.  You can't compare a gay person who just wants to marry his/her partner to some sicko who's into bestiality.  You just can't.   

So what does this have to do with the Supreme Court ruling?  It's the reason, to be honest, why this had to go to the Supreme Court in the first place: all those politicians listened to these same people making these idiotic arguments that about how same-sex marriage is going to do all sorts of things like "destroy marriage" and "open up floodgates" etc.   

It does not help when you have idiots like this giving the anti-equality crowd ammunition:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2623231/Is-real-life-Her-Army-veteran-wants-MARRY-laptop-says-computers-preferred-sexual-object.html

Yes, he actually wanted to marry his porn-riddled laptop.  Yes, he was a lawyer for the US Army.  Yes, the request was tossed (thank goodness!).  And yes, he was kicked out of the Army for mental illness concerns (Well, duh!).

Fortunately, this is going to be the exception, rather than a common occurrence.  Thankfully, the Supreme Court decided to side with reasoning rather than idiocy.  

You have to ask yourself, what is really "destroying marriage" anyway?  The people I'm referencing think it's letting same-sex couples marry, but what about the guys who marry the dumb-as-rocks bimbos just because she is great in bed (Or reverse, the women who marry the brainless jocks for the same reason), the marriages that end because the couple has one measly fight over dinner and decide to get a divorce instead of working it out, or the marriages where the husband gushes about his wife in public then cheats on her with multiple women?   So what is really "destroying marriage?"

As to the title....

The holdup with getting pot legal across the land is very similar in principal to why it has taken so long for marriage equality to became legal across the land, the people in charge keep listening to idiots making idiotic statements, in this case:

Lawmakers keep listening to anti-drug crusader idiots making the same bullshit talking point every time: That pot is a "starter drug," or a "gateway drug."

Except it has been proven time and time again that it is BULLSHIT.  98% of pot smokers never move to harder drugs, and the 2% that do would have done so with or without them smoking weed to begin with.

Thanks to these people, there are lots of people that are suffering.  Pot has a number of healing powers that, if legal, would bring lots of people relief.  You don't even have to smoke it.  In Canada, for example, doctors are injecting cancer patients with cannabis oil and within just a couple of months, the patients are coming back cancer-free (look it up, it's true!).

That's actually another reason why pot is not fully legal yet: Big Pharma knows that pot will replace pills for people, and their profits will suffer.  In the eyes of their CEOs, "Can't have that..."  But that's another topic for another day.

Like marriage equality, it's time for lawmakers to step up and stop listening to idiots making the same tired old, proven false arguments and listen to reason.  It will help out a lot of people.