Tuesday, August 19

"The whole idea of marriage is bringing up children" - Polls continue to show a majority of the country strongly against gay marriage, citing sentiments like that quoted in my title. Now, lawyers and other sophisticated folk would tend to disagree with the statement, and they typically congratulate themselves on rhetorical "gotchas" pointing out things like the right of infertile people to wed. Guess what? Good ole dumb middle America doesn't care. It's all about emotion, not logic. I'm not saying they can't be brought around to a more enlightened way of thinking, but it's going to take a long time.

We're at a huge demographic and political disadvantage on this one, and we're much better off thinking strategically about our civil rights campaign. At the very least, I'm praying that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court wises up and takes only the half-step of asking their legislature to create civil unions, just as their prescient brethren in Vermont did. And in the meanwhile, with the Federal Marriage Amendment gathering like a storm on the horizon, none of us should be sitting on our hands. How many straight friends and family members have you educated about marriage rights today?