Heterosexual couples want it, and can get it. Homosexual couples want it, too.
Homosexual couples invented it, for a specific purpose, with a specific meaning. It was about securing an environment to raise children, about getting in laws, making alliances and expanding the family labor force to ensure the viability and survivability of your little clan of the species. Homosexual couples want it, too, but for a very different reason and a very different meaning.
You get what you really want after working very hard. Marriage equality supporters have been working very, very hard, and we're at the horizon of seeing them get the fruit of their labors.
"Equal marriage" is in invented term invented for a political purpose. It used to be same "sex marriage" or "gay marriage" or "homosexual marriage," but neither of those terms fit the homosexual agenda of being able to beat religion and the religious dogma that goes against homosexuality.
After a lot of hard work, that's about to change.
In this case, "hard work" is a synonym for "whining long and loud."
Civil unions do not always afford the same rights and privileges as marriage.
Keeping the discussion within the borders of the United States, yes they do. In the 70s and 80s civil unions, with the exact same benefits and rights as marriage was refused as an option. It was refused for two reasons, one, they want the "M" word so they can win against religion, and two, they felt (and still do feel) that civil union is inadequate, despite having equal rights, because the term creates a separate status, and they want to be accepted and treated by society as perfectly normal. That's why the invented the term "homophobic," to apply it as a pejorative not against people who fear homosexuals, but against those who don't accept and embrace homosexuals as being perfectly normal, even glorious.
Why not? It's just a word. Language is always in flux. The word marriage had no special fan club until very recently.
But it's not just a word. All words have meaning so that we can communicate, and define ourselves as a society. As for marriage having no special fan club until recently, you'll have to define "recently," since pair bonding first began in the Stone Age as a way of organizing sexual conduct and providing a stable structure for child-rearing and the tasks of daily life, and the first written record of marriage was 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia.
Are you taking it personally?
No, I'm not. Not on a personal level. On a species level I am.
Then treat them like equals.
I do treat them like equals. What I won't do is treat them special, which is what they want. Same-sex marriage isn't equal rights, it's special rights. We have people right here on EO who are gay and have been married to people of the opposite sex. That's equal. Gays have had that same, exact right all along. They want to change the rule, the definitions, so they can have special rights.
It really seems like you're taking it personally.
I notice that instead of answering the question, to left that aside and now you want to direct your comments at me. Do you want to make this about me, and then you, and then me, and then you, and so on? Or would you rather stick to the issues?
