GAY MARRIAGE: THE ISSUE THAT WILL SPLIT THE COUNTRY?

OR
THE WINDS OF CHANGE? WINDS CHANGING? THEY KILL HORSES, DON'T THEY?

ANDREW SULLIVAN writes about THE STATE OF OUR UNIONS:
If it's not a crime to be gay, why can't we get married?
via The Wall Street Journal

It didn't take long for many social conservatives to ponder the long-term implications of the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down all antisodomy laws in the U.S. Moves are afoot to advance a constitutional amendment that would bar any state's legalization of same-sex marriage; next week is "Marriage Protection Week," in which the alleged danger of Lawrence v. Texas will be highlighted across the country. This push toward blanket prohibition, however, sidesteps a basic point about the post-Lawrence world. Whatever you feel about the reasoning of the decision, its result is clear: Gay Americans are no longer criminals. And very few conservatives want to keep them that way. The term "gay citizen" is now simply a fact of life.

and on his own blog:

"A hefty part of the opposition to same-sex marriage is based on purely religious grounds. Some on the social right do not make any real distinctions between Biblical law and civil law. Or rather, they don't on matters pertaining to homosexuality. So they're against everything to do with gay rights, period. Secular opponents of marriage for gays may well be in favor of some sort of civil union that isn't quite marriage, but (with some noble exceptions like Jonah) they avoid saying so in order not to offend their fundamentalist allies. The anti-gay marriage forces are, in fact, more conflicted than the pro-gay marriage forces. The left's former hostility to the idea has largely evaporated within the gay world over the last decade. But the fundamentalist right's opposition to any recognition of gay relationships at all is as strong as ever. That means that no conservative compromise - internally or externally - looks possible. Or am I wrong?"

via AndrewSullivan.com

A USATODAY Poll finds that

"(t)he nation essentially is split in half over whether to accept gay and lesbian marriage:
While 48% of those surveyed say allowing gay unions 'will change our society for the worse,' 50% say they would be an improvement or have no effect."

"That's amazing progress. Less than 20 years ago, the Supreme Court said it was OK to send gay people to jail for having sex. Now half the country is comfortable with gay marriage."

says InstaPundit.Com

MAYBE THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SAY?

Providing no social space for monogamous relationships among same sex couples while at the same time condemning homosexual promiscuity strikes me as not only an unfair Catch-22 but misguided on a number of practical fronts.

Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online