I had this same conversation with some streight friends yesterday. They aren’t bothered (anymore) by marriage equality, but it was a journey for them. Another reason it’s good to come out.

And, as we all know, there aren’t many valid objections to same-sex marriage.

Can someone help me out here. I can’t think of any valid objections.

And, welcome back, Timothy.

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Ben, excellent letter.

Way to go Ben.

Feel free to use as you will.

THANK YOU, Mr. President, for showing courage, conviction, and compassion for ALL Americans.

The rhetorical Rottweilers of the Religious Right rant about the completely mythical “redefinition” of and the “war” on marriage, without offering any reality-based rationale of how Ben and Paul’s civil marriage affects anyone else, let alone “redefines” marriage. In their very real war on gay people, they are uninterested in the real and matching 40% divorce and illegitimacy rates among heterosexuals.

Among many definitions, marriage is the legal creation of kinship. Why is that different for gay people?

How do our families and children endanger others? I have friends who have been devoted couples for longer than all seven of the Gingrich and Limbaugh marriages combined. Why are they of less importance?

Women didn’t have suffrage because they were legally property. Women voting didn’t change the definition of voting, it changed the definition of women. The Civil Rights Act, guaranteeing equality for black people, didn’t change the definition of rights. It changed the definition of black people.

Allowing gay people to marry doesn’t change the definition of marriage. It changes the definition of gay people and our families as socially, morally, spiritually, and legally inferior to heterosexuals.

“While ten years ago it might have been acceptable to laugh at the homos playing house, now that doesn’t fly.”

You are so right. I’ve seen the revolution in my own neighborhood, where we’ve lived now for 26 years and have become a ‘normal’ fixture in the landscape. Even my next door neighbor, who looked utterly shell shocked when I told her we’d gotten married, has come around… Even better, she later expressed her dismay when I told her that, yes, we are married, just not in Virginia. “What do you mean”, she asked. And when I replied, “Remember that constitutional amendment you voted for…”

We’re winning, one person at a time.

Thank you, Obama, for finally standing forward and doing what was right.