Well it is finally done-the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. I am not sure how I feel about that.
I’m an old guy-I am not really comfortable with the idea of gay marriage. Then again, I am not exactly a fan of heterosexual marriage either. The idea that one person is the be all end all of one’s existence is one I really don’t accept any more. And if there is such a person, its me-and I don’t need to marry myself.
I suppose it was inevitable, and it is a reflection of how American mores are changing. 20 years ago-this ruling would not have happened. 50 years ago, no one would have dared take the idea to court, nor would California have thought to put Prop 8 on the ballot. That young people don’t really care as much as older folks like me about who is gay is a reflection of how American society is changing.
Or is it? I am not so sure America is ready for the second and third order effects of gays being married. Yes its going to happen-and yes I have no really impassioned arguments to make against it- but I still wonder.
Consider the change of command ceremony in the near future, where, the Navy trumpeting the advent of the first openly gay commanding officer-watches as the guy doing the saluting singles out his love for his gay partner during the speech.
Or consider this idea: a guy goes with another guy and shares a hotel room on liberty. They both are married to other men. Meanwhile-a heterosexual man tries to do the same thing with a female. Any bets on who gets to mast first? I mean after all-they both are practicing the buddy system.
Eventually there will be a norm that will be unofficially established of what will and what will not be accepted. Until we get there though-there are going to be some spectacular headlines on the pages of your Navy times.
And you are kidding yourself if you think the activism is over-this was never about gays being free to be “who they really are”. This is about cold hard cash-and receiving military benefits for partners and partners of partners. Nothing in the change in the law creates that-and until gay marriage becomes universally accepted, there are hard times to come.
And that is something that really bothers me. A guy goes out and gets laid with a woman-or a “sales professional” and he will be nailed to a cross and left to hang . In contrast, I cannot envision the Navy seriously going after “gay adultery”. Just-not-going-to-happen. Double standard number 1.
I also envision the strong desire to attain a critical mass of homosexuals in all units. How you quantify this, I have no idea, but someone in BUPERS is hard at work trying to figure it out. And lets not even go into the realm of heterosexuals “marrying” their roommate and splitting the BAH shall we? Its going to happen. Duffleblog already has predicted it.
But, as I said, there really was no legal leg to stand on-and there hasn’t been since 1994 when the Combat Exclusion laws were repealed. Once that barrier went down-the rest was just a fait accompli.
Deep down, I think the Supreme Court made the right decision. But it only happened because American society has changed-and the older ideas were no longer found to have merit. But its still going to be about 30 years before we reach a “norm” of what is acceptable and what is not.
And if 1v1 gay marriage is legal-why not polygamy? ( One wife is a big enough pain in the ass-why would want two or more?)
“May you live in interesting times.”