Gay Marriage

Back to the politcal, I'm afriad.

This rambling was precipitated by two sources: my old friend Jessica, who sent a chain-mail missive, and the recent post by I'm Patrick!!.

Let me preface by saying that I am for equal rights, equal penalties, etc., for homosexual union.

That being said, and though I consider myself socially liberal, I'm not sure what I think about "gay" marriage.

My conundrum is more symantic than social: A bachelor, for example, is a priori an unwed male.

I've never come across a dictionary that states that Marriage is the union between man and man. In fact, the dictionary that I just pulled (Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary) stated, as section 'c': "The institution by whereby men and women are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family."

Do some homosexual couples adopt? Yes. Do many heterosexual couples not pro-create? That also is correct.

But, as any dictionay will state, marriage is, a priori, the union between a man and a woman.

So where does that leave us (me)?

It would be absurd, in current PC speak, to argue that marriage is for procreation alone. Marriage, after all, is to be a covenant between two joined persons. Many would argue, "if they love eachother, let them marry!". And who am I to stand betwixt?

But.

And the final "but" is all that I have to say about this. I can not make up my mind, never could. To me, this topic is like abortion. Rather, I can see why some people are offended, but I can not quite disagree with the liberal left. I am personally in favor of civil unions that extend all of the federal, state, local, etc., benefits to the couple. But I am unable to agree that "marriage", as such, needs to be extended.

On the other hand, I am firmly against any federal mandate to change the constitution to limit the possibilities of the homosexual marriage.

Does it seem that I am confused... perhaps better stated homo-agnostic? You bet your ass I am.

I can't wait until this is a non-issue, however it becomes.