Reply #67: Agreed.

[Beregond2]

Marriage, as currently consitituted in the U.S., is a very flawed institution. I would much rather see it become a private matter between two individuals, with all the legal aspects decided between them, and drawn up in a private contract. It is particularly bizarre that anyone would want to get married in CA, with it's antedelluvian alimony laws.

I am a gay man, and it rather astounds me that the highest goal of gay people these days is to plunge into the same relational cesspool that has plagued the lives of our straight brothers and sisters. I see no advantage in an "equality" that reduces our relationships to a legal definition. Further, why should married people have any special rights at all? That is the real discrimination that disturbs me.

Instead of pushing for the right to marry, why not fight for equal rights for single people? That would have the same legal results, and would take nothing away from anyone.

The highly emoptional reactions here illustrate that for many gay people, this isn't an issue of legal equality, but rather a psychological need for approval from society. Well, no legal decision is ever going to achieve that. And really, who cares? Fuck society.

I am old enough to remember when the gay rights movement was an integral part of the whole counter-culture movement. It was deeply leftist and radical. To see it reduced to a dreary quest to become just as boring and conventional as straights is deeply depressing to me.