"This
May Be Good for Marriage" writes liberal syndicated columnist
Richard Cohen:
Now along come gay couples to rescue marriage from social and economic irrelevance, casting a queer eye on a straight institution. They seek it for pecuniary reasons -- issues such as estate taxes, etc. -- but also because they seem to be among the last romantics. (No shotgun marriages here.) The odd thing about the opposition to gay marriage is that if the opponents were not so blinded by bigotry and fear, they would see that gay men and lesbians provide the last, best argument for marriage: love and commitment.
Libertarian-minded columnist Steve Chapman argues that "Freedom Evolves in Surprising Ways":
When John Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, which historian David McCullough says is "the oldest functioning written constitution in the world," he couldn't have dreamed it would someday be interpreted to sanction homosexual partnerships. At the time, Massachusetts made sodomy punishable by death. These days, however, not much is banned in Boston, or most other venues. --
On this and other activities once stigmatized as sinful, Americans are generally inclined to let freedom ring, even if they don't always like the results. John Adams and his fellow founders would be surprised, but when you decide to protect the pursuit of happiness, there's just no telling where it will lead.
On the other hand,
fumes religious rightist Cal Thomas, the Massachusetts
ruling:
...is further evidence that G.K. Chesterton's warning has come true: "The danger when men stop believing in God is not that they'll believe in nothing, but that they'll believe in anything."
Marriage was not invented by the Postal Service as a convenient way to deliver the mail. It was established by God as the best arrangement for fallen humanity to organize and protect itself and create and rear children. Even secular sociologists have produced studies showing children need a mother and a father in the home.
And, perhaps striving to be "fair and balanced," conservative
Bill
O'Reilly told his Fox News audience:
Personally I couldn't care less about gay marriage. If Tommy and Vinny or Joanie and Samantha want to get married, I don't see it as a threat to me or anybody else. But according to a poll by the Pew Research Center, only 32 percent of Americans favor gay marriage. And the will of the people must be taken into account here.
Some are predicting the culture war over gay marriage will
become more heated than the abortion fight. Others say that aside
from the religious right and the gay community, most Americans are
just not emotionally invested in the issue. Keeping an eye on our
national pundits will be one way to gauge if that's so.