Marriage Equality

Its that simple folks, the marriage equality article I linked to earlier has continued. And today's installment has been one I've been anxious to read for quite some time.

If there is one article you read about marriage equality all year, this should be it. A few snippets...

We recently heard of another example in a husband and father who felt he was brave by being "true to himself" by coming out of the closet as a gay man and leaving his family for a partner with which he felt he could "find his real identity." [...]

A story I have great sympathy for, actually. We all struggle with that part of ourselves which seems repressed or caged in because of our obligations to others. Gays are not exclusive in that struggle.

The point is that too much focus or value being placed on the needs and wants and rights of the individual can lead to selfishness and to putting commitments and relationships in second place and behind "number one." Before any of us go too far down that "individual" path, perhaps we should ask ourselves some "what if" questions (all of them are debatable, but all are worth thinking about):

What if happiness has more to do with fulfilling someone else that with fulfilling one's self? What if commitment and fidelity are what allow people to grow more in love over time? What if a man is not a perfectible entity, nor a woman, but a married couple is? What if there is something to the idea of the yin and the yang being the two necessary parts of one whole?

I'm here to tell you there is no "what if" about it. Marriage equality is the equal recognition of the rights and responsibilities (read the individual's obligations to) the man, woman, and child they potentially have together. Nothing else is truly equal, as valid as it might be (and trust me, I find it very valid sometimes), it simply isn't equality.