Gay Marriage: A Political, Social, or Religious Issue

       The topic of Gay Marriage has been burning up the Media since President Barack Obama officially voiced his support for it. A lot of folks have come out in support of the president & his stance on it, but a lot of negativity has been voiced as well.  Like I stated in previous posts, I really don't care if Gay people can get married or not. I just don't think that ALL their needs can be addressed though Civil Rights as we know it. This brings me to my question & topic for this post, Is Gay Marriage a Political, Social, or Religious Issue?
       When you look at the Politics behind supporting or opposing Gay Marriage it all boils down to one thing, VOTES. The main reason that President Obama came out in support of Gay Marriage  is to secure the LGBT vote. If you look at his record, President Obama has always supported Civil Unions & Legislation aimed at supporting the Gay community. But he waited until he was in an election year & his reelection campaign had officially started before he voiced his support. But I cant hate because it worked & now he is reaping the benefits of his move. Now Mitt Romney, on the other hand, vehemently opposes Gay Marriage & we see how unpopular he is in the LGBT community. Honestly, politicians have made this a Political issue solely because of the large number of voters that makes up the LGBT Community & those votes cant be ignored.
       The Social Issues associated with Gay Marriage aren't as big as the Political & Religious issues. Mainly because the American society has grown to accept the whole LGBT Lifestyle. This is evident  by some states already having Laws allowing for Gay Marriage & Protection of the Gay community. Society use to frown upon Gay people, but now they are freely accepted just like everyone else (for the most part).
         More than ANYTHING, Gay Marriage should, in my humble opinion, be viewed as a Religious issue. The most widely used scripture to combat the whole LGBT lifestyle is Leviticus 18:22 (KJV), "Thou shalt not lie with Mankind, as with Womankind, It is abomination". Some other versions & translations make reference to Lesbian acts as well. It sounds pretty straight forward, RIGHT? Now if you read the verse in the context of the passage, instead of by itself, some may say that it relates  to some forbidden idolatrous  activity in a Pagan Temple from which the ancient Israelite's must separate themselves from. Which interpretation you chose to believe, is yours to make. The Black Church, for a long time shunned homosexuality, until their Choir Directors positions started getting taken over. Now most of them just turn a willing blind eye to it.
             All in all, Gay Marriage is a Social, Political, AND Religious matter that really needs to be addressed head on instead of being used as a tool in Politics & tricked into believing that their needs can be addressed as Civil Rights as we know it.