Keith Olbermann on Countdown yesterday was in near tears, as he gave an impassioned, typically melodramatic, and highly entertaining defense of gay marriage.  Take a look:

First of all, I have to say this. It’s going to be a long, long time before I can watch another one of Olbermann’s special comments without repeatedly breaking into laughter. Ben Affleck and Miss Precious Perfect completely ruined it for me. Anytime Olbermann switches cameras, I lose it.

Okay, with that said, I’m kind of in the same boat as Olbermann here. I don’t really have a vested interest in this fight. I just happen to be stunned and slightly angered that the rights of any citizens in the United States of America would be subject to a popular vote. It’s one thing to vote on whether chicken cages should be bigger or whether we should use our tax dollars to build a high-speed train. It’s another thing to vote on taking away people’s legal rights– people who happen to be a small minority of the population. And if this really is the process we’re using, if we’re really going to put gay marriage up for popular vote every four years, does this mean gay couples have to hold their breath every election day to see if their marriage is still valid? How ridiculous is that?

To be honest, I’m not even 100% sure gay marriage is right or good for society or any of the other moral debates taking place right now in churches and communities across California. I’m neither a sociologist nor a theologian. I do know that denying people rights that everyone else has is un-American. It’s just not what this country is about. I also know that allowing religious groups to write their beliefs into the state constitution is a slippery, dangerous slope– even if the religion happens to be mine.

I’m actually not that interested in hearing what other religions have to say about my relationship with my wife. I also happen to be just as uninterested in what the majority of Californians think. I’m an American; it’s my God-given right to not have to care. And I’m sure gay couples are every bit as uninterested in what either my Bible or the Book of Mormon or a small majority of Californians have to say about their relationship with their partners– except for the fact that it’s all now written into our state constitution. But the fact is, gay Americans are every bit as American as I am; they should have the exact same right I do to not have to care.