America and the Sanctity of Marriage

Image from Bag of Nothing

In a couple of weeks, The Other Half a I will celebrate one year of marriage. It's not "opposite marriage," in the parlance of recently former Miss California Carrie Prejean. It's same-sex marriage. "Marriage" with scare-quotes, if you prefer. We didn't rush into it, having been co-habitating for nine years, and having known each other for over ten. And so far, the sky hasn't fallen, the Earth has kept on spinning, and straight people didn't abandon their spouses for a hottie of their own gender.

In fact, short of the political squabbles, and the protests over Proposition 8, life is pretty much as it was. At least as it relates to couples, families, children--you know, society--of which our union was supposedly going to "rend the fabric." All of the fear mongering, all of the arguments against gay marriage are--as they always have been--false. Lies, in other words. All that opponents really want is the legal right to openly discriminate against gay people. It's all they've ever wanted. It's why they're also against including gay people under hate crimes legislation, even though religion is already covered. It all boils down to the fact that if gay people are given complete equal rights and protections, the anti-gays might get in trouble if they want to continue to treat us like dirt. Boo-hoo.

The blogosphere is all atwitter (ha!) today over the Obama Administration's DOJ defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The defense is shockingly, inexplicably robust for an administration that is allegedly against the act. I'll admit to being disheartened by it. Disillusioned, even. But I'm also willing to see where this goes. I want to hear what the President has to say about it, and how it all plays out. If it is true that we've been hoodwinked, and that Obama is intentionally throwing us under the bus, I really don't know where I stand, politically. We certainly can't defect to the right, which is worse. And starting a third party seems to have a minuscule chance of any sort of success. Might we be stuck siding with a party leader who doesn't give a rip about a slice of his constituency? Maybe.

Meanwhile, the "sanctity of marriage" argument is losing as well. Remember Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? and Married by America? If you don't, how about The Bachelor or The Bachelorette? These are all game shows where contestants try to "win" a--heretofore unknown to them--wife or husband. Well I just opened the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, and the networks are at it again. Coming soon to a TV screen near you, I Married a Stranger on FOX and Arranged Marriage on CBS! Nice to see that America is so worried about the sanctity of marriage that they are of course protesting these shows with the vehemence of "Yes on 8." Right? Right???