Regarding the
Chicken-Fried News “CFN Quote of the Week” by Oklahoma Conservative
Political Action Committee founder Charlie Meadows in the Dec. 1 Oklahoma Gazette:
Mr. Meadows implies
that he is a Christian and a conservative. I am a Christian, and Mr.
Meadows does not speak for me. If I were a conservative, I would find
Mr. Meadows’ editing to be lamentable when he writes, “Governments at
various levels may someday, with the propaganda help of publications
such as the Gazette, make marriage legal.” If Mr. Meadows is
married, Mrs. Meadows may be surprised to discover he doesn’t think
marriage is legal already.
If,
on the other hand, Mr. Meadows was speaking of legalizing marriage for
gay and lesbian couples, and if Mr. Meadows finds such marriages
threatening, he may have some justification.
Marriage
between two people of the same gender would have as its basis equality
between partners. There would be no predefined submitting of one’s will
to another. This might make those in traditional marriages jealous.
Well, half of them anyway.
Such
a marriage between two consenting adults of the same gender would
require that the partners talk to each other to reach an agreement about
such things as relocating for a job or deciding to have children.
That’s OK, though, because they’d be better able to understand each
other since they’d be of the same gender. Right?
Young
gay men and young lesbian women would likely not have been pushed by
their parents to find a same gender partner and settle down before they
were mature enough to handle a long-term relationship. So, it is
possible that marriage between same-gender couples would be between
chronologically older people. However, hormones being what they are, it
could be that the only difference would be that no shotgun would be
involved before the ceremony.
In
gay marriages, there would be no gender-specific roles. Anyone could
take out the garbage, mow the lawn, do the laundry and wash the dishes.
So if Mr. Meadows fears gay marriage will affect traditional marriages, he is probably right. It could improve them. —Judy Sullens, Norman
