Much Ado About Something

It baffles the sensibilities that a 21st century society wrestles with whether two consenting adult human beings have the right to "legalize" or “legitimize” their relationship via a civil ceremony. Marriage, it seems, as may beauty is in the “eye of the beholder.” That said, domestic partnership marriages, whether sanctioned by church or state, are in the interest of both the State and of the public as they serve to recognize and encourage potentially “lifelong” relationships, giving the families created by these unions a sense of permanence, stability and acceptance.

Acceptance in the “eyes of the law” provides property and legal rights protection for the individuals involved, allows access to joint medical and retirement benefits, and confers a legal obligation of one for the other, all of which are afforded others who have taken vows of trust and love. Recognizing marriage also honors the love and caring each hold for one another.

The extension of civil marriage rights to the previously disenfranchised will not add to the fragility of marriage in our society. Heterosexuals will continue to contribute the lion’s share of divorce and dissolution of families. Nor will this expansion of rights lessen or demean the “institution” of marriage. It and we will survive.

In a society that professes “monogamy is best”, State sanctification of homosexual marriages seems to fit our social agenda. Legislating roadblocks to a couple’s right to say “I do”, does not contribute to the overall state of marriage or of families in our society, it only prohibits those who wish to participate in the trials and tribulations of matrimony from experiencing it.

- Ted DeCorte