Photo Courtesy of RockandRollBride.com

In exploring the many issues related to marriage, there is none more prominent than the ongoing state-by-state battle over the legal rights of same-sex partners. Today, the New York State Senate voted down a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage by a vote of 38 to 24. I consider this pretty depressing, given that New York is home to almost three hundred thousand members of the GLB community, the largest gay population in the United States.*

If only more people got the picture like New York State Senate Committee on Civil Service and Pensions Chair Diane Savino, who said most eloquently in the video below, “we in government don’t determine the quality or the validity of peoples’ relationships. If we did, we would not issue three-quarters of the marriage licenses we do.”

After watching this video, I am further convinced that there is something painfully wrong with a system that gives complete strangers the legal right to marry, yet will not afford the same opportunity to deeply committed same-sex couples. Unlike their same-sex counterparts, a straight couple can secure a marriage license in less time than it takes to update their car registration at the DMV. For fewer than one hundred dollars, I could marry my postman this afternoon, were I not already legally bound to Chris (and in some states, I could have them both, woo-hoo!)

To those who oppose gay marriage, I have these questions:

-If marriage is considered that sacred, why make it so easy for any (straight) person over eighteen to obtain?

-If you’re going to deny the rights of a minority, why not question who should be married out of the majority? Why not add a few restrictions, like pre-marital classes and stricter divorce laws?

-Which would bother you more: a same-sex couple together for twenty-five years getting hitched in a quiet church ceremony, or a heterosexual couple tying the knot as they drink out of their 7-Eleven rented slurpee machine? Which do you consider more “sacred”?