LavenderMagazine.com – Faith in Action – by Haven Herrin
Marriage has been the topic of conversation in GLBT circles of late. Presidential candidates have recognized the importance of sincerely engaging our community?s issues. Some candidates support marriage equality without elaboration or parsing of words. Those who do not tend to want to shy away from the issue and respond to questions with questions, for example: ?Why are we talking so much about marriage anyway??
I call that obfuscation, a specious rhetorical strategy that is neither a valid question nor answer.
We talk about it for good reason. Marriage is important because it is a socially contracted marker of a significant shift in one?s life. Rituals like marriage function as necessary shorthand for the chapters in our lives. Without graduations, weddings, funerals, baby showers, house warming parties, and farewell dinners, we would feel constantly in transition.