Oh geez, ND. Good luck with that one.

Yeah, pretty much. I haven't had to deal with that one. My first instinct is to engage, but then my saner self remembers that it would be a waste of my precious time.

ND, I'd be tempted to start by suggesting that, if marriage is such a purely religious institution, then creating a civil status of marriage -- with consequent benefits, responsibilities, etc. -- constitutes an establishment of religion. Which is prohibited by the First Amendment, and civil marriage is thereby unconstitutional for anyone.

I've found that a good way to confuse those people is to point out that civil marriage and religious marriage have been separate institutions for a while. In various places in Europe, for a long time, there were laws restricting Jewish marriage. Jews could only have government marriages in certain circumstances. But plenty of Jews got married anyway, in religious ceremonies. In doing genealogy research, I found that my great-great-grandparents didn't get married according to the Austrian government until they were in their sixties and already had something like eight kids, because that's when the government changed the law and allowed them to get married. So far, I've only seen one person actually take the bait and respond with, "Well, those marriages that were officiated by a rabbi but didn't have state recognition weren't REAL marriages."

Well, according to this dude they still weren't real marriages.

The more conservative people on my friend's list are silent on the Supreme court cases so far, for which I'm extremely grateful. Although, I have to say that many of the very conservative and/or highly religious people on my friends list are also pro-gay marriage because they have someone in their life who is gay.

I did yoga on Monday and Tuesday this week, and the only reason I'm not doing it this morning is because I am waiting for the oil company to show up and service our boiler. I'm sore and exhausted at the moment but trying to remind myself that the benefits will eventually start to outweigh the bad stuff.

Way behind on posts and catching up in a different window, but I wanted to pop in to give Cass my love and condolences. I am so sorry to hear about your father, but glad you got to spend so much quality time with him. {{Cass}}

And of course there are parts that need to be replaced that aren't covered under the service agreement. Also, the whole house smells like oil, and I wish I could flee.

Fingers crossed: I may have an apartment. She is checking references today.

Much luck, sumi. I know having a new place would be a relief!

Sumi, so much apartment ~ma. I've been worried about you. Are you still in your old place?