by any other name...

So what I'm hearing from a lot of people is that they are "ok" with same-sex couples having a domestic partnership but not "holy matrimony"...

A lot of people don't even know that domestic partnerships and marriges afford couples different rights (see blog entitles "rights"). The assumption is sometimes held that the gays have equal rights but a different name for the life-long commitmet they have made, a "partnership" instead of a "marriage."

A lot of people are ok with this.
They just wasnt to reserve "marriage" for a man and a woman.
...it's "tradition"

So this got me thinking...
what IS in a name?
Why are so many people so emotional and enfuriated that the tital of marriage could be used on same-sex couples?

Would sex outside of marriage somehow be "ok" if it were called something else?

Would murder be openly embraced once called something new?

Would the punishment for speeding on the freeway be lessened if given a new name?

So why is it ok in most peoples minds to allow a same-sex couple to commit their lives to each-other, promising to be faithful, to love, cherish, and honor... and yet they are apalled at CALLING that committment by a certain name.
Does it change the act?


So really what we're dealing with here in November is rights. Equal human rights.
Because, let's face it, call it whatever you want..
but the committment that two people who love each-other make... is exactly the same.
We're just possibly taking away the civil rights of same-sex couples.

Please join me and other fair-minded Californians in voting "no" on prop 8 in November.


(for more info on the difference in rights between a domestic partnership and a marriage: http://lesbianlife.about.com/cs/wedding/a/unionvmarriage.htm )