Reading the Newspaper Can Raise My Blood Pressure

I was reading a newspaper article about the proposed constitutional amendment in Virginia which would prohibit marriage between anyone except one man and one woman, and then it goes on to prohibit civil unions, and who knows what all. Virginia isn't the only state considering or enacting this kind of legislation, just the closest, until Maryland decides to do the same thing.

So let me tell you my interest in this: Ron and I have been together for 23 years. We love each other. We own a home together. I suppose the detail about our lives that most offends the authors of amendments and laws like those being considered in Virginia, is that Ron and I also sleep together.

What raises my ire most about Virginia's amendment is that it not only deprives gay men and women in Virginia of a basic human and civil right, but it's positively mean-spirited. If you straight people want marriage as your own private club, go ahead and take it. But don't trash the civil rights of the rest of us.

When I look at the divorce rate, it appears to me that straight people are the real threat to the institution of marriage. Maybe to protect marriage, Virginia should just prohibit anyone from getting married. That wouldn't violate anyone's civil rights, either.