So let me get this straight. Say the Republicans: Gay people can't get married, because marriage is a special and sacred bond between a man and a woman.
So special and sacred a bond it's worth creating an amendment to forbid anyone from saying it's anything else.
So sacred we'd put the first interdiction into said amendments in American history--say the Republicans--to protect its integrity.
And yet, and yet. You, straight man/woman, will no longer be able to tell your straight woman/man sacred partner, what you want done to you if you are braindead? You will have to put it in legal writing, with a CC to your spouse?
Let me hit this one more time:
A marriage certificate is a sacred and holy bond before God. That's what it represents, say the radical Republicans.
A husband and wife are pledged to one another like no one else.
But, if the husband tries to do as the wife asks, we'll call Congress into special session to stop him? We can't get Congress in regular session to stop killing American boys and Iraqi men women children and grandparents, and they'll come together mid-brush-clearing to trump sacred holy untouchable marriage?
There are only two possible outcomes here:
- The Republicans persist. They get their laws, successively struck down by the courts. Meanwhile, many people who are going-going-not-gone lose dignity and hemmorhage money, pushing said smackdowns through the courts. But the sanctity-of-marriage argument is forever dead; what the husband is to the wife is nothing compared to what the notary is to the wife. And hey, even a couple of people of the same sex can get a notary.
- The Republicans back off. The sanctity of marriage is preserved. Tom Delay realizes he was caught between a rock and hard place: gay-bashing vs. abortion-bashing, and still the ethics headlines fail to disappear. In any case he got it on the news. More pro-lifers wail and tear their hair and beat their kids. More wackos shoot judges. But the sanctity of marriage argument can never be trotted out again without the trademark Bush smirk of not-really.