Still deciding if I'm in or out

A few weeks ago Travis "came out" in support of gay marriage. See his original post here. I have to admit I'm not there yet - I am still getting the issues straight in my mind, and if I eventually get them into some coherent fashion I'll post about it.

In the meantime, I keep tossing around various ideas pro and con, one of which is that the "real" threat to marriage is not gay marriage but other factors which weaken the institution, such as (per Travis) the various quasi-marriage options like civil unions and (not per Travis) divorce. And on that note, see this AP article on the increasing rate of divorce among long-term marriages:

 No firm statistics are available, but experts say there is no doubt that breakups among couples married upward of 25 years are becoming more common, although they’re still less likely than divorce among younger couples.

I am not quite sure what to make of this trend, nor how to relate it to the debate over gay marriage. Arguably, it means that in the face of increasing assaults on marriage, we ought to reward those who intend to commit to each other, regardless of gender, which some argue would necessarily strengthen the institution (for example, this argument pops up in various forms in several Andrew Sullivan pieces, such as this one). Arguably, though, it means just the opposite: We need to draw the wagons ever tighter around the traditional conception of marriage to keep out these sorts of encroachments.

Or it may mean something entirely different - that marriage as an institution is outmoded and should be replacd entirely (people actually argue this - here's an entire web site devoted to promoting various versions of this idea). It seems to me that this might be the worst option. So I am with Travis on that, at least. Here's to incremental steps!
- posted by Anonymous @ 8:47 PM