A couple of decades from now people will look back in wonder at the fuss over the same-sex marriage debate.
When that eventuality has come to pass, we will be a saner, more humane and more functional society.
This is a civil rights issue. And the issue involves up to possibly 10 percent of our fellow citizens - friends, neighbors, co-workers and loved ones.
To deny the full rights of marriage to a selected group of people based on gender is un-American. To say to that group of people: You have lesser value as a human being - diminishes us all.
Earlier this month Mayor Nickels promulgated an executive order recognizing same-sex marriages for city employees married elsewhere. In the name of human dignity and common decency, the mayor did the right thing.
In Massachusetts, California and Oregon, judicial and jurisdictional friction has transformed the issue into an election year quarrel.
President Bush has called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but the call is a mere sop to his restive right wing base. The proposal, requiring passage by two-thirds of both houses and ratification by three-quarters of the state legislature, clearly lacks the needed super-majority backing.
Still, conservative opposition to same-sex marriage is strikingly ironic. The conservative agenda aims to reduce the role of government in our lives. Constitutional amendments, historically, have been used to broaden, not limit, personal freedom.
It should be noted Bill Clinton, as president, supported the definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman as well. Clinton's respect for the sacredness of the institution is another matter.
If marriage can survive drive-through weddings, marrying Elvises, promiscuous presidents, "marry a millionaire" game shows and a heterosexual divorce rate of nearly 50 percent, it can survive same-sex weddings.
Marriage is a social and personal covenant made between two people, a legal union in which a couple pledges to love one another until death. Society, to the degree it encourages and supports stable relationships over temporary ones, is the beneficiary.
This country was founded on the pursuit of happiness and equal protection under the law. One of democracy's fundamental faiths is that, however messy the process, right will prevail. The judiciary in various states has now engaged the debate.
We hope this country, sooner than later, will do what is right.
When two people are prepared to step up and say, "I do," society and its laws should applaud and support them.
Love, it's said, is eternal. Gender, it should be recognized, is irrelevant.
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