(Stuff Nation) — While August 19 was an amazing day in our history, there will be some amongst us watching the news with frowns. So this is an article to, well, if not convince, then at least to provide a little calm.
What gay marriage opponents have in their minds is an unspoiled, ivory-tower vision of marriage, one where it is an unchanged institution of the two halves of humanity: the male and the female. It’s a lovely ideological concept, but one that is simply not based on a real-life view.
Marriage is a societal rite, practised globally. It is, at its core, a practise of giving legal formality to relationships that society has deemed deserving of it. It’s a grant of a bundle of rights (property inheritance, finance, welfare to name a few). It’s companionship. It’s a stable base to raise kids. It’s a hard slog, one we all hope to be in for life. Being someone’s husband or wife is a special status, universally recognised above ‘partner’ (business partner? Cowboy aficionado?) or ‘boy/girlfriend’ (have you been together for a week or a decade?).
