If it displeased you, it was probably for religious reasons. You probably think it's another big step down the road toward moral collapse.
The world is changing. Just 15 years ago, California voters supported a ballot initiative declaring that marriage was only between a man and a woman.
The majority of voters agreed that this was the way things always had been. Hence they should always remain that way. The problem of course is that in a democracy, there are no rules that cannot be changed if enough people want to change them.
Majorities can't change everything. In fact, some types of change are made more difficult to accomplish precisely because we can't let majorities tyrannize minorities that they don't like.
A majority of voters can't pass laws making it illegal to be black, or Jewish, or handicapped. And as we are beginning to see, laws against people who are gay or lesbian take on a much nastier tone if we consider homosexuality genetic rather than simply a choice.
In the end, that's what it all comes down to -- is homosexuality a choice or is it genetic?
Either way, it's difficult to say two consenting adults shouldn't be allowed to do whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes. As long as they leave children, farm animals and foods with heavy sauces out of it.
Love -- real love -- is never a bad thing.
Actually, what turned the tide as far as I can figure is that more and more moderate, tolerant people began to realize they had friends or relatives who were gay, lesbian or bisexual. President Reagan disgracefully ignored the growing AIDS crisis for the first six years of his administration, but once he realized someone he knew and liked -- actor Rock Hudson -- had AIDS, he opened his mind to what was happening.
I knew two people who died of AIDS. One was the younger brother of a close female friend and the other was an actor I appeared with in a play in 1973. I have a friend my own age from high school who has been living with the disease for more than 30 years.
People who oppose same-sex marriage and at the same time are afraid of AIDS really ought to consider the fact that the more people who can marry, the less promiscuity there will be and the less chance there will be to spread disease.
Most people don't get married just for fun, either. People straight and gay alike marry because they want to make a commitment to another person. Whether that's for love, financial security or any other reason, marriage adds stability to a relationship.
More than almost any issue except maybe abortion, same-sex marriage makes right wing politicians a little crazy and more than a little stupid. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum said legalizing gay sex would lead to sex between men and dogs, an incredibly grotesque statement that probably contributed to his landslide defeat for re-election.
And with the Court legalizing same-sex marriage, politicians and preachers on the far right are acting as if the Apocalypse was rounding Mars and heading at top speed for Earth and the end of days.
It's sad, I suppose, that for millions of conservative Americans, the world will never again be the way they want it to be. But it isn't as if gay men and lesbians are grabbing people and forcing them to attend their weddings. Our country has usually been at its best when we take a live-and-let-live attitude toward our fellow countrymen and women.
Just because same-sex marriage is legal doesn't make it mandatory.
And hey, bigots. If it turns out you're right after all, you'll have the last laugh in the end.
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