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.
I always thought the name Serenity had a vaguely funereal sound to it.
Simon ,'Out Of Gas'
Natter 62: The 62nd Natter
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Jesse - Dec 22, 2008 3:12:23 pm PST #7550 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
P.M. Marc - Dec 22, 2008 3:29:30 pm PST #7551 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
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.
Steph L. - Dec 22, 2008 3:38:17 pm PST #7552 of 10002
I look more rad than Lutheranism
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.
This is my opinion as well; my earlier post was just my attempt at articulating *my perception* of the general arguments in favor of gay marriage. (I just wanted to be clear.)
tommyrot - Dec 22, 2008 3:50:12 pm PST #7553 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Oh, uh, today is Strega's birthday!
Birthday Happies for Strega!!
Glamcookie - Dec 22, 2008 4:06:35 pm PST #7554 of 10002
I know my own heart and understand my fellow man. But I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world. - Anne Lister
I am javachik. "We're very pretty."
Lee - Dec 22, 2008 4:10:41 pm PST #7555 of 10002
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
Happy Birthday Strega!
beth b - Dec 22, 2008 4:16:11 pm PST #7556 of 10002
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!
happy birthday, Strega.
I'm in the corner with the 'get the state out of marriage and make civil unions - a legal contract- the state business"
§ ita § - Dec 22, 2008 4:21:35 pm PST #7557 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
One of the reasons I can't see civil unions becoming the default any time soon is then one'd have to admit that as much as they may hope for "till death do us part" it's not at all mandated by the procedure.
Barb - Dec 22, 2008 4:40:52 pm PST #7558 of 10002
“Not dead yet!”
Neat article on CNN.com on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission. [link]
Calli - Dec 22, 2008 4:43:52 pm PST #7559 of 10002
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
Happy birthday, Strega.
One of the reasons I can't see civil unions becoming the default any time soon is then one'd have to admit that as much as they may hope for "till death do us part" it's not at all mandated by the procedure.
People might plan a little more sensibly if they admitted this. I'd be cool with an option of civil unions that were renegotiable after a specified amount of time. Maybe a couple wants to plan on 60+ years together. Maybe they want to get together long enough to raise a couple of kids, but want to pursue their own bliss after the kids are grown. Maybe they want to form a union to support one another for 5 or 10 years after college while they're getting their careers started. People seem to want a lot of things out of their unions, and I'm not sure all of them can be wrapped up in "to death do we part."