"The greatest divide in this country is not between liberal and conservative, but between those who feel that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers, and those who do not."--Miss Manners.
I can't think of a better way to frame the gay marriage argument--or a simpler, and, dare I say, "traditional" one. How can anyone be so arrogant as to claim they have a right to interfere in the marriages of total strangers who have done them no harm?
Take heart, everyone. Even if the worst happens, the human impulse to love and mate is a lot older than any government or any religion. You still get to decide whom you marry, whether a narrow and shortsighted government chooses to recognize it or not. There are a number of happy and successful same-sex marriages that thrived on this principle--Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, for example, had one of the most famous, celebrated, and publically approved marriages of the last century. I know we want to move on and have our marriages legitimized alongside our straight friends, and I hope this will happen soon--but some of the comments on this thread have depressed me beyond belief. Please don't give in to anger and despair over North Carolina.
I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."