Secondly, this whole thing really isn't about marriage. It never was. Because you're right to say that having a piece of paper signed by the state doesn't really mean all that much just for itself. What this is really about is the *acknowledgment* of the union by society at large. That's really the purpose behind marriage. It's an announcement to society that two people are devoted to each other and plan to make their lives together. That's why they're such big family affairs, and why weddings have so many guests... it's the public blessing that people support the couple's new life together. A marriage certificate only means something if the people in your community recognize it as legitimate... but if instead they always turn away and tell you you're going to hell, then it's just words on paper with no meaning at all. It's about - to use Farley's phrase - "psychic security and basic well-being." Would you enjoy everyone telling you you're evil and a bad person because you loved someone sexually? That's a day-in, day-out battle on your peace of mind, just trying to live your life.
That's why I think that the argument on both sides has been fundamentally misdirected. Homosexuals often frame the argument say "it's none of your business who I want to marry, your opinion shouldn't matter because it's my individual right to get married." Well, actually, in a macroscopic sense the opinions of others *do* matter, because marriage fundamentally *is* the blessing of the union by the community... otherwise people wouldn't bother to get married, they'd just decide to be together and not bother to tell anybody. But the societal acknowledgement and blessing *is* the marriage. So at the bottom of it, gays aren't asking to be married as such, just to have the piece of paper, they're fundamentally asking to be accepted. Because the fact is that they're going to be together no matter what anyone else says... but they may be scorned and spurned from society for doing so.
In any case, I watched the trailer for the movie mentioned in the thread title about Prop 8. Honestly, it looks pretty terrible. It's basically a Michael Moore flick. I may agree with a lot of it, but what good will it actually do? It's so polemical that you'll just be preaching to the choir. People on the other side aren't going to be able to stand sitting through it, and I hardly blame them.
But the fundamental point against the anti-gay marriage folks here (or even simply anti-gay folks in general), for which I've never heard a satisfactory response, is exactly who is hurt by gays getting married, or just being together. I just don't get it. We constantly hear these sound bites about how gays are a "threat to America" or a "threat to our way of life." What exactly does that mean? What threat? Gays are no more sexually perverted or more likely to be sexual predators than straight people. They're not evil. They don't "convert" people. So what exactly is this "threat"?
Can anyone tell me? I don't have the first clue.
