This latest chestnut from Pam’s commenter michael the chickenhawk sums up the idiocy of the people who think “civil union” is a fair compromise for “gay marriage”:
many feel there is a need for legal protections as well.but many such as myself object to using the word ” marriage”that word has always meant the union of a man and a woman.there are many types of unions. i have no problem with another union which acknowleges and protects the rights of gays.
That always cracks me up. It’s really just the word marriage that gums up the granting of civil rights? How shallow.
See, there are all sorts of words that had traditionally long histories of definition that since came to change as we became more enlightened. “Voter” used to mean “white landowning male”. “Citizen” used to mean “white person”. Why can’t the word “marriage” evolve, too?
However, I am glad to see, michael, that you support gay civil rights (I’ve got you pegged as a wingnut of fiscal affairs, but you seem somewhat reasonable on social affairs.) So let’s just call it something different. How about “queeriage”?
OK, so gays get married and we call it “queeriage”. It is absolutely equal to “marriage” in every single way. Every state must recognize “queeriage”. “Queeried” partners get every benefit that “married” partners do. “Queeried” partners are subject to all the rights and protections of “married” people.
If it’s exactly alike, why call it something different? As Mr. Spock once opined, “a difference which makes no difference is no difference.”
Why? Because some people are disgusted by gay people, and even if legally the “queeriage” is the same as the “marriage”, they want to have a linguistic and social means of differentiating themselves from the fags. “Oh sure, those fags got rights, but they’re not ‘married’ married.”
No dice, bub. Even if the colored water fountain is in every way identical to the white water fountain, the fact that they are separately labeled leads to discrimination and exclusion of the minority.
This is America. The melting pot. The land of the free. All men (humans) are created equal. Our laws and society should always work to include people, to celebrate our community, not create meaningless distinctions between us.
