Friday, January 09, 2004
My sweetie called me at work today to tell me that the New Jersey state Senate approved a bill Thursday to give same-sex couples many of the rights available to legally married couples, and the governor is expected to sign it into law, making New Jersey the fifth state to recognize domestic partners (Domestic partnerships are recognized in California, Massachusetts and Hawaii, and civil unions between same-sex couples are legal in Vermont).
This is always such a sensitive subject with my friends and family. I just don't get what the big deal is myself. I know that not everyone is comfortable with gay people and hell, I was raised that way too and I can remember the effect that had on me and my feelings towards myself at a certain time in my life so I will give you that one. If you love someone, but you are not on an intimate basis with them, it is pretty creepy to try to think about what they do under the covers when the lights are out. Since I live in a society where my lifestyle is solely evaluated on what and who I do under the covers with the lights out, I get the skeeve factor in that. Really.....
But the whole defense of marriage angle seems to be predicated on the sanctity of marriage as a religious institution (even though the church officially wanted nothing to do with marriage for the first 1000 years or so of Christianity since marriage was a matter of property and not religion). I say it is a legal contract to protect and define the relationship that two people choose to engage in, but fine... Even so, if marriage is this holy and special thing that must be protected from the influence of sinners then why was it legal for Britney Spearsto have a few hours of it? It scares me to live in a world where someone like Spears can get drunk and stupid and whimsically enact the legal system to bind her life to someone else and yet my partner of eight years and I can not even thoughtfully define those same protections for ourselves.
Maybe we should not focus on who is getting married and direct our funds and energies on educating people about why two people get married.
This is always such a sensitive subject with my friends and family. I just don't get what the big deal is myself. I know that not everyone is comfortable with gay people and hell, I was raised that way too and I can remember the effect that had on me and my feelings towards myself at a certain time in my life so I will give you that one. If you love someone, but you are not on an intimate basis with them, it is pretty creepy to try to think about what they do under the covers when the lights are out. Since I live in a society where my lifestyle is solely evaluated on what and who I do under the covers with the lights out, I get the skeeve factor in that. Really.....
But the whole defense of marriage angle seems to be predicated on the sanctity of marriage as a religious institution (even though the church officially wanted nothing to do with marriage for the first 1000 years or so of Christianity since marriage was a matter of property and not religion). I say it is a legal contract to protect and define the relationship that two people choose to engage in, but fine... Even so, if marriage is this holy and special thing that must be protected from the influence of sinners then why was it legal for Britney Spearsto have a few hours of it? It scares me to live in a world where someone like Spears can get drunk and stupid and whimsically enact the legal system to bind her life to someone else and yet my partner of eight years and I can not even thoughtfully define those same protections for ourselves.
Maybe we should not focus on who is getting married and direct our funds and energies on educating people about why two people get married.
