Gay Marriage: Another View

I have strong views in favor of gay marriage. Frankly, there is little enough love in the world, that I would sit in judgment on two people who took their relationship seriously, lovingly and wanted to share their lives.

I know that other good and thoughtful people are opposed. They understand marriage as a lifetime commitment between one man and one woman. They “understand” a fiction, possibly an ideal, but never, and I mean NEVER, was this an immutable fact. Today marriage is clearly not a lifetime commitment. Sometimes they last only hours.

Historically, and in other traditions, marriage can be to more than one woman at a time. Up to four in Islam. (And just how will our one-man one-women position hold up against the exploding Muslim population in the West?) There are also other cultures that have polyandry. Our idea of marriage, or ideal, is not some eternal prescription handed down since the beginning of time. It isn’t even immutable in the Bible. Polygamy was the ancient norm.

As the politicians, okay the Democrats, pose and bob and weave, let me not so much advocate for my position as reframe the discussion/argument.

Most of the politicians, and this is true for both the Liberals and Conservatives, seem to support some form of “Civil Union.” This is the extension of partnership rights to same sex couples. They would be able inherit as spouses, adopt, own and pass property, visit each other in hospitals, and get the same access to health insurance. Cities and corporations are already beginning to institute these policies and politicians seem to be going along.

However, the major candidates all oppose Gay Marriage. They hold that marriage is a sacrament that should not be fiddled with. Well, they are half right. It is a sacrament but it has always been fiddled with. President Bush proposed a Constitutional Amendment outlawing Gay marriage. This, by the way, nearly unprecedented. The amendments have always restricted government’s power and expanded the personal freedom of the People. The one exception was the 18th Amendment, the Volstead Act that outlawed drinking alcohol—and we all know how well that worked out!

Where is the intellectually consistency of the Right? They want less government and much less federal government. Except when they don’t. They trust the states. Except when it is inconvenient. They trust the People—except when they don’t want to. The cynicism and hypocrisy of the proposed amendment was stunning. It is an election year wedge issue and a distraction from the important issues facing this nation. Gay people, seeking stable relationships, are not the greatest threat to this nation. They do not want to blow up our mighty edifices—only redecorate them.

While civil unions have some economic impact in terms of joint filings and insurance, this could be compensated for by the taxes collected from the wretched excesses of the Wedding Industry. Why, after all, should only the parents of straight people have to spend fortunes on halls, outfits, food, bands, and flowers? Instead of outlawing Gay Marriage, let’s make Gay people get married. This would be the Revenge of the Breeders.