Defending marriage for myself - not from gay people
TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS ago this weekend, my husband and I vowed to love and cherish each other, for better or worse, until the moment either of us took our last breath. That promise is the best one I ever made, though some years it's been easier to honor than others. My husband and I are different people today then we were 27 years ago, so keeping our vows has taken plenty of negotiating.
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Which has been often enough, trust me. Over the past 27 years (and speaking only for myself, since my husband deserves some privacy here), among the many things that threatened our bonds of matrimony were: Pettiness and impatience. Money worries. Job stress. The exhaustion of parenthood. Illness. Caring for elderly parents. Aging. Pondering life's meaning and panicking that I've squandered the short time I have on this planet. Regret. Lack of gratitude. Neurosis. The death of people I love. Holding a grudge. Needing to be right. You notice what's not on that list? Gay marriage.
So I'm delighted that the Defense of Marriage Act, which forbade gay people from marrying, was repealed this week. The act was idiotic, having nothing to do with protecting heterosexual marriage and everything to do with labeling homosexual relations as immoral. Beyond that, DOMA's very name implied that people outside of a marriage have more power to keep it solid than those within it.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130630_Defending_marriage_for_myself_-_not_from_gay_people.html#O1HyhxsUHp9uqq7I.99