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I'll bite--what IS it about other people's marriages that so bother the "Yes on Prop. 8" people?

By Nancy Rapoport

I just found out that Prop. 8 passed in California. That's the proposition banning same-sex marriages.

I don't get it. Just what is so hard about letting two people in love get the same civil rights that I've had for the past 12 years? Does a same-sex marriage threaten my marriage in any way? Is giving same-sex couples certain legal rights going to somehow threaten opposite-sex couples (including, BTW, those who have taken their marriage vows and then gotten divorced--which is, of course, legal and "doesn't" threaten the sanctity of marriage)?

I hear that the SF City Attorney is going to file suit, claiming that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional (see here). Good.

I understand that a lot of people are uncomfortable with same-sex marriage, for a variety of reasons, and I don't want to marginalize any good-hearted opposition to my own views. But I believe that denying same-sex couples these civil rights smacks of the same popular hesitation that accompanied mixed-race marriage not that long ago. Too many of my friends have had to resort to a variety of legal machinations just to get the right to visit their partners in hospitals, or to have survivorship rights, or to enjoy any of the myriad rights that I get to take for granted as a married woman. I know that times will change, and I foresee a time when this hot-button issue will be of only historical interest, but I sure wish that times were changing a bit faster.

Full post as published by Nancy Rapoport's Blogspot on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).