Repositioning Marriage

wedding-ring,
originally uploaded by Jerry Ketel.

I just got married recently. It was a beautiful thing. But I am reminded of the joke Bill Maher told when gay marriage was a hot topic in the national elections a year ago. It went something like this: Gays are the only people left who WANT to get married. It's a funny joke—only because of its poignancy. Yes, gays do want to get married, they want the same rights and privileges as we straight people do. I say that it would be a good thing. It will strengthen the institution. However there are many people apparently living in the dark ages that would disagree with me. Unfortunately those people are in the majority. They want to keep the "marriage" from this minority, yet still a different majority of Americans would accept the idea of civil unions for gays. Of course, many in the gay community find this to be a compromise. It relegates them to second class status. And I agree. So I say, let's find another word for marriage that is more meaningful and relevant. Let's reposition marriage to second class status. It would take a little time, but it could be done. We could make "marriage" the archaic word for union.