MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

AMERICAN SPRING: MARRIAGE EQUALITY AND THE ARC TO JUSTICE

Remember the Arab Spring? Fueled by social media, the people of several Arab nations started taking to the streets five years ago to demand a different way of life, a change in the relationship they have with their governments. Now granted, the Egypt, Libya and Syria of today may not look exactly like what we might have expected as a result of the protests – but if we look at our own history in America we can see that, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, its arc is long but does indeed bend towards justice.

So we need the Arab Springs, and the long hot summers of discontent — but they’re just the beginning.

Gays are Not Three-Fifths of a Human Being

 The same-sex marriage fight is about whether or not straights see gay people as equal to them as human beings.

Reconsidering Marriage: What's Our Highest Vision?

In a December 2008 interview with Beliefnet, even "America's Pastor," Rick Warren, agrees that same-sex couples should have the same legal rights and responsibilities as heterosexual couples, but, as we have heard time and time again from opponents of equality, his primary issue is with the redefinition of the WORD "marriage."

Warren tells Beliefnet, "I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage."

All this trouble over a word?  What are we really fighting for, here?  Maybe what BOTH sides really need is a compromise that transforms our ideas about civil unions. 

In the following 2007 article, KAY WHITLOCK explains the "Beyond Marriage" movement (www.beyondmarriage.org) and why we need a new strategic LGBT vision that does not prioritize marriage over other family forms:

"We must also call for a broader definition of family so that marriage, for all who choose it, is only one option among many, not the only way people can access essential government protections and supports. These supports include unmarried partner access to health insurance, second-parent adoption, and survivor benefits for Social Security and pensions."

Surprisingly, it sounds like Rick Warren and others would already be on board.

Read "The Perfect Storm: Why Progressives Must Reframe the Narrow Terms of Marriage Politics" by Kay Whitlock