Who's sleeping in your bed?

I don't know and I don't care. But there are those out there do seem to care very much about that sort of thing. Among them are the President of the United States, conservative Catholics and evangelical Christians.

This week the president called on the Congress to debate a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Like they don'y have more pressing business to discuss! President Bush said yesterday that God had defined marriage this way, but if marriage was so important to God, why isn't this the 11th Commandment. I think that's where the really important stuff is; you know, thou shall not kill, thou shalt not steal, etc. (The loving couple shall not be named Frank and Steve).

So what is it about same-sex unions that frightens these people so? If you want to look at it legally, the law doesn't recognize marriage. You can get married in the church, but that gives you no legal standing. You have to get a license from the state. Then you're entitled to all the rights and benefits that the law allows. You can file joint taxes, you can visit your loved one in the hospital with no hassle.and on and on.

When two people love one another and make a lifelong commitment to one another and share each other's triumphs and burdens, I'd call that a committed partnership. And what is marriage, if not a committed partnership between two people. The president says that only one man and one woman can provide a warm and loving home for children. I think the president needs to open his eyes, take a look around and realize that while there may not be millions of homes with same-sex parents, there certainly are enough of them to blow huge holes in his argument. But the president has been so uncurious about so many things, that in this case, too, he won't allow reality to color his thinking.

Maybe it's the word, marriage. After all, marriage is a religious concept and the fundamentalists want to preserve this concept as a religious one. That's probably fair. Let's allow the same-sex couples to have civil unions. (Then they can sneak around and have their religious ceremony in secret, so that they don't offend the sensibilities of the religious people.) At least give them the legal protection that every other couple in a committed relationship has.

Man defines morality, not God. If God were doing the choosing, everyone around the world would be sharing the same moral beliefs, and the entire world would be singing in perfect harmony, but it's not. And so it's left the man to decide what's right and what's wrong when we deal with each other.

The good news is that as time goes by more people believe that civil unions between same-sex couples is a good thing. Or at least the right thing. The fundamentalists are just more vocal. You know, the adage about the squeaky wheel... The better news is, that there isn't enough support in the Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to define marriage in biblical terms.

This country was founded on freedom. Freedom from oppression, freedom of religion and freedom to mind your own business, live your life as you see fit and allow others to do the same. The President says he's all about freedom, so why is he opposed to same-sex unions (that's a rhetorical question!). The majority needs to speak out. There are plenty of people out there who want to tell us how to live. The secular people need to let the Congress know that we will not allow the religious right to dictate that life.