I think the recent flurry of same sex marriages is a wonderful thing. Beyond wonderful; it makes me happy to be alive today. I feel like no matter how screwed up our country is, when scenes like this are taking place we can't be all bad.
But I have a question, which I haven't seen addressed in my (admittedly limited) reading on the subject; What happens when a same-sex married couple wants to get divorced? I feel like a party-pooper, looking at photos of dozens of happy couples and thinking about breakups. But if half of all marriages end in divorce, sooner or later state governments are going to have to deal with the issue. I guess in the states that issued the marriage licenses, they'll just get a divorce like everyone else. But what if they're in another state that recognizes same-sex marriage but doesn't perform the ceremonies? Would they have to go back to California or Oregon or wherever to get divorced?
(And when is Carrboro going to start issuing same-sex marriages licenses? I think it's about time!)
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Hm, it would be interesting to see the statistics on these marriages in the future; for some reason, I think there are going to be less divorces.
Interesting question!
And thank you for the picture; this whole wave of marriages has made me very happy and optimistic about love/mankind/etc for the time being!
did you see the current salon article on gay marriage? i think it's in the 'life' section.
i'll bet hedera is right and fewer of these will end in divorce. a lot of these couples have already been married for years in every sense except the legal one, some for decades.
this growing phenomenon makes me feel like-- how can this be denied?? how can a government deny the obvious will of the people?
and when is *durham* gonna get on board? i know carrboro is a liberal haven, but durham is not shy of gay people, either!
and durham has the advantage of being the county seat, and it's county authority, not municpal, that can confer marriage in north carolina. of course, the marriage license must be issued by the county clerk of court, and i'm not sure that durham county's administration is as open as the rest of the city to the idea...
I remember being SO proud of the UK when a few years ago the tabloid papers ran a scandal story about Peter Mandelson being GASP - gay! And the public reaction (and from tabloid readers too) was a totally bemused "yes, we know that, and?"
The press had to print apologies a few days later - some nasty-minded journalists obviously hadn't realised that it's no longer the 1950s.
I can't STAND Peter Mandelson - he is one of the B.Liar "spin doctors" but it was good to see the country being way more concerned about his politics than his sexuality. I LOVE British social liberalism. You really can be anyone you want to be in London (so why am I not there? Long story really :-) )
Sadly, Czech Republic has a long way to go on all this, but well, it'll get there.
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Oh - have to also add, I followed some of the chatroom conversations in the UK over the whole "Prince Charles found in bed with a guardsman" story and it again made me very fond of some aspects of the British. The general reaction was disbelief that it really WAS about having it away (as we say) with a guardsman. As one commentator said "Who would be worried about THAT? I reckon it was something else, I reckon he did something serious".
I once went on a Gay Pride march in London and even little old ladies waved from buses.
on "morning edition" today they actually had a pretty nice discussion about gay divorce:
http:..www.npr.org.rundowns.segment.php?wfId=1760154
I couldn't get that link to work, but I poked around the NPR site and found this, which I think is the story you meant: http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1760154
Thanks for the tip!
[Edited to add:] I just listened to the story, it was really, really interesting. I wonder though, if they deliberately chose the "opposing viewpoint" guy to sound like an asshole? Or does everyone opposed to gay marriage come off like a narrow-minded bastard? (I don't spend a lot of time listening to anti-gay marriage people so I don't know :)
I was especially put off that he lumped polyamory and incest together as two practices that might benefit from the door opening on gay marriage rights. That smacks of an inflammatory remark designed to make unusual family structures sound disgusting by association.
(besides, if I recall correctly, incest -- between first cousins at least -- is already legal in lots of states.)
I looked at the site Sarah posted, but didn't read all the way through what I found. I'm giving a speech on this subject of gay marriage the day after tomorrow, so if you know any sites to find info, please tell me at feayrubia08@yahoo.com :)Thanx=:)