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IS GAY MARRIAGE INEVITABLE?
What's all the fuss about?
A couple of hundred same-sex couples in California flock to
the justice of the peace -- why should anybody care?
This is the single most powerful argument for gay marriage out
there: Why should you care?
The second most powerful argument is its twin sister: Gay
marriage is inevitable, so stop worrying about it.
Oddly, at the moment of its greatest apparent victory, the
consequences of gay marriage are becoming ever more clear.
As the gay marriage movement becomes more confident of
inevitable victory, it is also becoming more open and explicit
about what gay marriage will mean for the rest of us.
For example, redefining "infidelity." Back in the '90s, when
Andrew Sullivan first suggested gay couples had a thing or two to
teach opposite-sex couples about our rigid insistence on sexual
fidelity, public reaction was so negative that he recanted (and
to this day he gets mad if you even mention he said it!).
But from the new-won confidence of his legally recognized gay
marriage in Massachusetts, Eric Erbelding is quite comfortable
explaining to The New York Times: "Our rule is you can play
around because, you know, you have to be practical." Eric says
most married gay couples he knows are "for the most part
monogamous, but for maybe a casual three-way."
For the most part ... except for the casual three-way?
Try explaining that one to your wife.
But hey, if the word "marriage" can be redefined as a civil
rights imperative, why balk at lesser ideas like "monogamy" or
"fidelity"?
Similarly, gay marriage advocates are becoming quite candid
about what this ruling, if left undisturbed, will mean for
traditional faith communities. A May 30 Washington Blade story
asked, "What about religious adoption agencies or daycare
centers? Will they be forced to accommodate gays?
"Experts say organizations that receive state and federal
funding will not be allowed to oppose working with gays for
religious reasons," the Blade forthrightly reports. "Some, most
notably Catholic Charities of Boston (gay marriage is legal in
Massachusetts), have opted to get out of the adoption business
rather than be forced to allow gays to adopt."
What about the next step: "Could churches in time risk their
tax-exempt status by refusing to marry gays?" Continued... |