Hell with Prop 8. Can we repeal marriage altogether? For everyone? As far as I’m concerned, the government belongs out of my bedroom, and out of my relationships period. They don’t have a say in who I can be friends with, they shouldn’t have a say in who I choose to be more than friends with, regardless of the depth or expected length of my commitment. Civil unions for everyone, fine. Let people form whatever sort of contracts they like. That’s most of what a legal marriage is, anyway. Not much different from a business partnership, except that the business is a life and a home instead of an occupation and a shop (say). And most of the clauses that belong in that business contract (that are currently automagically the consequences of being legally married) are perfectly legal clauses to stick into any contract between any two people. Or three people. Or as many as you damned well please. I don’t think even the most extreme religious types have a problem with two men going into business with each other. Or three men. Or eleventy. The main issue seems to be that the entire concept of marriage, and those aspects of it that go above and beyond the black and white letter of the law, are inextricably tied up with things like religion and personal values. Which is fine. But those things are none of the government’s business. I don’t know why that’s not more obvious. It’s all very personal, and really has nothing to do with the logistics of running a city, state, or country, so mind your own beeswax, G-Men. Let’s just make the two things separate. Problem solved. If a particular church doesn’t want to marry anyone but heterosexuals, fine. If they don’t want to marry fourteen transvestites, whatever. Those fourteen transvestites can take their business elsewhere. But anyone who wants to gets to decide to combine their finances, share joint ownership of a home, blah blah blah. Hardly any change from what’s already possible. No big friggin’ deal. We run into a few issues when it comes to children, but I don’t think they’re anything that can’t be worked out. Health insurance is another problem, but here’s the solution to that one: universal health care.

Personally, I don’t much believe in marriage. I think a lot of it is a bunch of religious hoobajoob, and otherwise a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo. Neither of which has anything to do with how I feel about my husband, really. If I wasn’t part of an international couple, I probably wouldn’t have messed with it. It’s more or less a shortcut to signing a whole mess of other legal documents. I truly don’t see what all the fuss is about. Whether or not homosexuals are allowed to marry… is their behaviour going to change? That’s a big, fat, fucking no. What changed after my wedding… Let’s see… I dunno. Zip squat. Oh, right. I had an extra piece of paper lying around. Seems like a whole lot of kerfuffle over a bit of semantics (I got scolded every time I tried to make an argument out of semantics when I was a kid — I would like to scold this entire loopy country in turn). Call them married, or call them two people who live together, enjoy fucking, and plan to keep doing it for a while. What-ever. Nothing meaningful will be different.