Hi everybody!

I did my shopping and it was fine. Xmas gifts are mostly bought unless it was DH's job to buy it. But I'm done, at least for now. Costco wasn't even terrible. And they'll be open on Xmas eve and selling crab, so if that's what sister wants we can get it there.

Dear god elementary strings. My ears, my ears.

Just pulled peppermint chocolate chip scones from the oven. My sister bought a pre-made mix and all things considered, they're not bad. Of course, I doctored them a bit with extra mint-chocolate chips and a light dusting of sugar. They came out super tender and the house smells very Christmassy.

Dear god elementary strings. My ears, my ears.

Ha ha! My younger cousin took violin for a while, and it was a nightmare. This is why I took flute -- even at 9 or 10, I knew that played badly, flute sounded better than violin or clarinet played badly.

Oh dear god, it is awful. And the parents in the audience talking is worse. Wtf is wrong with people.

My cousin Buffy, who married her wife over Labor Day, sent me this link to Melissa Etheridge's wife's blog. They've got an interesting take on the Warren deal.

Her perspective is interesting -- as long as the government-approved union with all the same rights as marriage is legal for gay people, then it doesn't have to be called "marriage" -- but my impression (based solely on the media) is that, in general, gay people don't want separate-but-equal status, with a differently-named union. If "marriage" is good enough for the hetero American citizens, then why should gay American citizens be forced to accept anything else?

Still, it was interesting to read.

Although I couldn't get past her horrible butchering of "yarmulke."

Meh, I'd *rather* have marriage, but if someone were going to hand me something that was *actually* the same as marriage, I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers. Especially if it were more than just a state at a time. Widespread. IJS.

I'm pragmatic. I'd rather have the shit than fight for the word. I figure if we have civil unions or whatever the hell they want to call them, in ten or twenty years, when we've had those and the world has not collapsed, at some point, people go "oh. yeah. duh"

I can see the argument that we shouldn't settle, and I have definitely seen people settle for things that were NOT worth settling for--things that were LESS than equal. Things that were selling out friends of theirs, for example (ie, "oh, well, we'll get equal rights for the gays, and sucks for the trannies! Maybe someday!") And that shit ain't right. But...

Although I couldn't get past her horrible butchering of "yarmulke."

ha!

My personal opinion is that government should be completely out of the "marriage" business altogether. Gov't should issue civil unions, i.e. binding legal contracts between adults, to any persons who wish to be united by law. I could give a rat's ass if it's 2 people or 5.

And "marriage" would be left up to religious organizations to do with what they see fit. Lots of churches are open to gay marriage. And lots of 'em aren't. As with any church, you're welcome to be a member of any you think fits your needs.

The end.

I am pretty much with you, javachik. I know straight couples who don't believe in legal marriage, churches that celebrate gay marriage, etc. Some (gay) close family friends now have two anniversaries -- their church wedding 15 years ago (that I'm pretty sure my father co-celebrated), and their legal marriages when MA passed marriage equality.

Her perspective is interesting -- as long as the government-approved union with all the same rights as marriage is legal for gay people, then it doesn't have to be called "marriage" -- but my impression (based solely on the media) is that, in general, gay people don't want separate-but-equal status, with a differently-named union. If "marriage" is good enough for the hetero American citizens, then why should gay American citizens be forced to accept anything else?

I think the same-sex legal contract in Great Britain is civil marriage rebranded without the word marriage. (Civil partnership vs. civil marriage.)

My personal opinion is that government should be completely out of the "marriage" business altogether.

Amen.