"Our Interests Have Grown in Different Directions"

It looks like the dream is already over for some married homosexual couples in Massachusetts. That didn't take long. But let's make one thing absolutely clear.

"Anyone who argues that gay and lesbian couples divorcing is grounds for opposing gay marriage is being incredibly hypocritical."

I think that's a perfectly fair statement. I'm not linking this story for any kind of "I told you so" purposes, because frankly these divorces prove absolutely nothing.

Well, okay, they might prove something, but they don't prove that gay marriage in general is a bad idea. Because frankly, heteros get divorced as well, and no one is petitioning the government to get rid of hetero marriage. What it does prove is highlighted, I hope, by the quote I used as the title of this post. That's a quote from a couple that got married May 22d of this year. They lasted less than seven months together.

Again, that sort of thing happens to heteros all the time. But I suspect that we can reasonably conclude that some, if not many, of the couples who flooded the courthouse steps in the PRM (People's Republic of Mass.) earlier this year because of some desire to publicly demonstrate their commitment, so much as they wanted to make a political statement. I remember Rosie O'Donnell flying to San Francisco to get married very, very publicly when mayor Gavin Newsome went off the hook (all the while criticizing the President for politicizing gay marriage).

Seriously, how much of this is love, and how much of it is a politicized demand for acceptance?

The problem with the latter is that you can never be happy by relying on others as the source of your acceptance. I could choose to feel alienated every day because Tulane is a liberal university in a very liberal city. I know I'm in the minority around here, but I don't rely on the approval of others for my happiness, and therefore I've never felt the need to garner national media attention to get people to support one of my causes. When people disagree with me, they disagree, and I shrug my shoulders and get on with my life.

At its most fundamental level, that is why I oppose, not gay marriage as such, but gay marriage by judicial fiat. Frankly, if the majority of people decided that gay marriages should be performed and recognized by the state, I would be willing to accept that, because it would be the will of the people (as opposed to the will of a small and very vocal minority). What I bristle at is being told what to think by people who label me a fascist or worse for bristling at people who tell me what to think.

Achieve your political aims politically, folks, not judicially. It will lend some modicum of respect to your agendas.

Update: And in an amusingly ironic story, the Law of Unintended Consequences bites gay couples in the butt.