Maine: Yes On Pot, No On Gay Marriage?
As I’ve become increasingly disenchanted with marriage, I have become more inclined to believe that the entire marriage equality movement is a misguided effort. Sure, same-sex couples and feminist weddings might be mildly transgressive affairs, but they are ultimately reaffirmations of an institution too steeped in patriarchal values to ever change. I grant that civil unions — as they exist in the U.S. today — are an inadequate, “separate but equal” solution. Legalizing same-sex marriage is not merely a legal victory but a symbolic one. But given that the State has no place in granting marriages, is it simply too radical to propose that the government do away with any and all mentions of marriage and only grant civil unions to straight and gay couples alike? Will anti-marriage equality folks be willing to accept such a compromise?
If marriage equality is ever fully realized in America, it will effectively spell the end of the fight for civil unions and domestic partnerships. The latter will not seem relevant to anyone but a very small minority (including me), because marriage is apparently the type of thing everyone naturally just wants to sign up for. So where does that leave those who don’t want to get married or want to have husbands and wives? Marriage has always been an exclusive institution in that not everyone can join. But when everyone can join, what happens to those who don’t want to?
(On the bright side, Maine is taking a cue from my home state on the weed issue.)
