Gay Marriage

This issue has been raising my blood pressure all year, for two primary reasons:

1. I have had a lot of gay friends in my life, and they have all been amazing people I have been proud to count as friends. Some of the gay couples I have known have been incredible role models for happy, healthy, successful marriages. In fact, most of the long-term gay relationships I have known have been a lot more impressive than most of the straight marriages I have known. So it really burns me that anyone would suggest that gays are less worthy than straight couples when it comes to enjoying the rights and priviledges of marriage. I hate the fact that friends of mine - or anyone for that matter - are being discriminated against for something that harms no one else and is at the core of their own pursuit of happiness.

2. The talk of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages - or, as the President and his allies put it, "protecting" marriage - is blasphemy to someone who cherishes this country, our values as a nation, and the Constitution as the most amazing political document in history. We have only amended the Constitution 27 times - ten right away with the Bill of Rights. Of the 17 that came after the Bill of Rights, only one set out to limit citizens' rights rather than protect and defend them. That one instance of limiting rights - Prohibition - was a dismal failure that was eventually rendered moot by a subsequent amendment. Are we seriously going to even consider an amendment that would turn the Constitution into a document that limits freedoms for its citizens rather than protects them?

Others have wisely pointed out that there are other "threats" to the institution of marriage that seem more relevant to the status of the institution in American society: Las Vegas "drive-thru" marriages like Britney Spears' latest PR stunt and a divorce rate where more than half of American marriages will end in divorce come to mind. And is gay marriage a bigger threat to American society than the poverty gap, failing schools in our cities, an impending Social Security solvency crisis, and a federal debt that now exceeds $7 trillion dollars?

Talk of amending the Constitution to ban gay marriages is an outrage. I just hope our politicians realize it before the debate goes too far. And let's hope they start talking about real issues and real solutions to our problems. While we're at it, can we also ask for some positive vision about where American can and should be headed in the 21st century?