Sunday, December 09, 2012
The most hysterical, delusional claim made by marriage equality opponents & that it will alter the society & culture in some terrible ways. The same claim was made about civil rights legislation & court decisions; lifting bans against interracial marriage & especially voting rights - which indeed did change society in the "terrible" way of electing African-Americans to office all across the South. But marriage equality, as major a change as it is for LGBT, has little effect on American culture.
The difference is that marriage equality just legally ratifies what already exists, what has always existed, but which has fallen out of the closet over the past 35 years.
Gays & lesbians have always had same sex marriages. In fairly recent times some homosexual couples like composer Benjamin Britten & singer Peter Pear made no serious attempt to hide their lifelong relationships. Britten didn't want to present himself as a "confirmed bachelor" as so many barely closeted gays did, including some of Britten's closest friends in the arts world.
Marriage equality won't result in a huge increase in same sex "marriages." The new law is a necessary formality. Most of the couples getting married in Washington state today were already married in their hearts & living together. Now they have the rights & legal protections of the laws of the State of Washington. Aside from the matter of adopting children, which infuriates the religious nitwits, & some resentful employers having to recognize & extend health insurance to same sex families, I can't think of anything that would affect straight bigots negatively. Maybe if one's rich old lesbian aunt dies & now suing her legal spouse for the inheritance would be a guaranteed losing effort.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The difference is that marriage equality just legally ratifies what already exists, what has always existed, but which has fallen out of the closet over the past 35 years.
Gays & lesbians have always had same sex marriages. In fairly recent times some homosexual couples like composer Benjamin Britten & singer Peter Pear made no serious attempt to hide their lifelong relationships. Britten didn't want to present himself as a "confirmed bachelor" as so many barely closeted gays did, including some of Britten's closest friends in the arts world.
Marriage equality won't result in a huge increase in same sex "marriages." The new law is a necessary formality. Most of the couples getting married in Washington state today were already married in their hearts & living together. Now they have the rights & legal protections of the laws of the State of Washington. Aside from the matter of adopting children, which infuriates the religious nitwits, & some resentful employers having to recognize & extend health insurance to same sex families, I can't think of anything that would affect straight bigots negatively. Maybe if one's rich old lesbian aunt dies & now suing her legal spouse for the inheritance would be a guaranteed losing effort.
