The skies have yet not darkened

The state of Massachusetts has upheld the decision to legalize gay marriage, and as of today, the skies have not darkened or fallen.

I'm not gay (of course, I'm not married either, so to some degree, I'm speaking from ignorance), so whether homosexuals are given the right to marry or not has absolutely no bearing upon me. The term sanctity of marriage has been thrown around so often in the last few months that it's almost becoming a catch phrase, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure that those throwing it around really know what it means. I'm not going to get into that here, largely because I don't understand how allowing homosexuals to marry has any bearing whatsoever upon the sanctity of marriage, and I really have no desire to argue a point when I don't understand its counterpoint. However, the idea of limiting the freedoms of a specific group, frankly, worries me.

Consider this: according to the Census Bureau approximately 50% if marriages occurring in the United States today will end in divorce. Most of those within the first ten years. In other words, the supreme court of Massachusetts has given a right which the rest of us are in serious danger of taking for granted. Like drinking from a public water fountain, or using a public washroom. Sound familiar? As I see people marching in protest and screaming about the sancitity of marriage (whatever that is), I see us as dangerously close to the days when different races could not drink from the same water fountain, different races could not vote, or had to sit at the back of a public bus. I see us as dangerously close to the time when one's rights and priveleges were determined by one's skin color. Now, it seems, they're determined by one's sexual orientation.

Bush has said, openly, that he would support an amendment to the constitution which will specifically prohibit gay marriage. If such a bill were to pass, it would be only the second amendment to the constitution ever designed specifically to limit the freedoms of its citizens. The last one was prohibition. That turned out well, didn't it?