“Maw-age”, as the abbot in The Princess Bride so eloquently puts it, “Maw-age is what brings us here today.”

     I believe that you have all met my friend, The Evil Cub.  If not, clicky-thing that link there and go to the blog entry about social coercion of the majority, and gay marriage.

     Speaking as a straight, married woman, the mother of two children, and a believer in God, I have to say that the sacred state of marriage is under attack from anti-social forces on a scale unprecedented in human history.

     The bond of love between two people is being defiled on a daily basis by people who don’t share the same values as most of us good, honest, God-believing people.  People are getting married who simply, simply shouldn’t, and there should be a stop put to it.

     People at the highest levels of our government are betraying the sacred and revered institution of marriage.  Some of them dozens of times in a single lifetime.

     That’s right, I’m talking about divorce, infidelity, spousal abuse, or just plain ignoring their dutiful spouse and their emotional needs in favor of pursuing public fame and notoriety.

     Thppphhhhtttt!

     Raspberries.

     It is my opinion that the institution of marriage cannot be sullied by anyone at any time for any reason, and here’s why:

     No matter who gets married, no matter how they get married, and no matter what they do inside their marriage;  it has no effect on my marriage.

     I don’t care if your marriage ceremony is performed by a giant squid, and the bride and groom are wearing nothing but giant, hollowed-out melons on their heads…it has nothing to do with my marriage.

     The only people who can defile the sanctity of our marriage are my husband or I.

     Marriage as a soley religious institution is just a silly idea.  As far as I know, there are no Christian denominations that consider marriage to be a sacrament.(Editor's note:  since I posted this, I have been informed that Catholics consider marriage to be a sacrement.)  Baptism, Eucharist, The last rights, and Interment in the church (or church cemetery)….those are sacraments.  Marriage within the church is merely one way in which marriage can be performed, and it has always been that way.  Civil marriages have always been with us, as well as common-law marriages.  Society has always has alternative ways of respecting the bonds of love and mutual committment between two people.

     Marriage can be given the blessing of God, or it may not.  That’s up to the church, but it is at it's base, a civil union…a social contract between two people who love and trust each other and want to make a life together where they honor and value the other person as they value themselves…and society recognizes that commitment and honors it.

     But the commitment is not to the church, not to society, and not to God unless the couple chooses to involve them.

     So, if Newt Gingrich chooses to present his wife with divorce papers in the hospital on the eve of her cancer surgery, how does that defile my commitment to my husband to be there for him in sickness and in health?

     If Bill Clinton dishonors his commitment to his wife, and himself by getting BJ’s in the oval office, does that make my husband’s fidelity automatically invalid?

     Of course not.

     Don’t be an ass.

     If two gay men can go to the town hall, or a progressive church and get married, does that mean that my husband and I will be less comitted, less loving, and less devoted?

     Once again, don't be an ass.

     The sanctity of the institution of marriage is a social fiction.  It has only imaginary value.  Look at all the righteous, God-fearing leaders running around defending marriage from the filthy Godless gay people.

     How dare they?  When they have almost to a man, defiled their own marriages.  In some cases, several of them.

     How dare they imply that anything done by another person can defile our marriage?

     How dare they trample the rights of many of my friends to happiness, security and social recognition they deserve, and do it in the name of the sanctity of our marriage?

     How dare they say that my friends cannot have a marriage because they are gay when they have shown themselves more loyal, loving, steadfast, and comitted than most of the people who claim to defend the “sanctity“ of marriage?

     The sooner people get this the better:  You are responsible to adhere to you own moral principles in your life.  You are the only person that you can control, and you are the only person that you should attempt to control.  If Gay marriage is against your principles, don’t have one.  If marriage is sacred to you, then treat your marriage as if it were sacred…and let others do the same.