No, I don't think so. I went through the same change of mindset recently. One of my regrets is that I didn't vote with my gut back in 2006 when I got my first chance to vote. The question of marriage was on our ballot and we were given four definitions to choose from. I flip-flopped between whether I believe in civil unions or full-blown marriage (semantics, I know). I decided to go the civil union route because of those semantics--I left the word marriage to the church so long as gay people got the same rights. Which, is what Obama believed before yesterday.
But since the "one man, one woman" definition passed, it's obvious that if we really want to change the laws, we're going to have to throw semantics out the window. I still believe that the Churches can keep their marriages as they want, but those of us who split the "marriage" (whatever word you want to use) need to unite under one or the other. The end-goal is equal rights for whatever couple stands in front of a certified person for the 20 minute ceremony, so does it really matter what we call it?
Obama came to his current position the same way I did. We wanted to play politics and religion and call it a civil union to keep the right wing happy (wow, I sound so jaded when I say it that way), but that hasn't worked. Supporting Gay Marriage is just a name to unite more people. Civil Union people, please don't think that we're crazy. I'm sure that there's a small number of people who will take nothing except the term marriage, but there's what, 46 states where even Civil Unions don't exist? And the vast majority of supporters, whatever word they use, just want a single piece of paper to be able to sign that gives them all the rights and privileges they could get with a small fortune and six months of legal chaos.
But since the "one man, one woman" definition passed, it's obvious that if we really want to change the laws, we're going to have to throw semantics out the window. I still believe that the Churches can keep their marriages as they want, but those of us who split the "marriage" (whatever word you want to use) need to unite under one or the other. The end-goal is equal rights for whatever couple stands in front of a certified person for the 20 minute ceremony, so does it really matter what we call it?
Obama came to his current position the same way I did. We wanted to play politics and religion and call it a civil union to keep the right wing happy (wow, I sound so jaded when I say it that way), but that hasn't worked. Supporting Gay Marriage is just a name to unite more people. Civil Union people, please don't think that we're crazy. I'm sure that there's a small number of people who will take nothing except the term marriage, but there's what, 46 states where even Civil Unions don't exist? And the vast majority of supporters, whatever word they use, just want a single piece of paper to be able to sign that gives them all the rights and privileges they could get with a small fortune and six months of legal chaos.
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