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Gabriel Arana offers a personal take on 'redefining marriage'



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The American Prospect's Gabriel Arana, who also writes here at AMERICAblog, has written a post on redefining marriage. And, it's personal. Gabriel and his boyfriend, Michael, are getting married on February 5th:

Politics isn't always personal, but sometimes it is.
That's right. And, the marriage "debate" is often ugly and vicious. Rights have been denied to and even taken away from same-sex couples. But, we are making progress and marriage is changing. And, this isn't the first time, as Gabriel explains:
In fact, it is the adaptability of marriage that has ensured its survival. Not only has "marriage" not remained static across time and in different cultures, it is defined and redefined by couples every day. Sometimes it's beautiful, and sometimes it's not, and some people marry for richer but not poorer, and some marriages last while others don't. Couples make "marriage" in their own image; it's that basic freedom and responsibility that make it frightening, exciting, and worthwhile.

Last week, when the Supreme Court announced it would decide whether to review a lower-court decision upholding the D.C. Board of Elections' decision to prohibit a public referendum on the city's 2009 gay-marriage law, I had the sudden urge -- irrational because even if they took the case, a decision and public referendum would be months away -- to run down to D.C. Superior Court and get married immediately. The Court declined to hear the case Tuesday. But it made the fight over the right to marry, which the Massachusetts Supreme Court called "among life's momentous acts of self-definition," painfully concrete. I can imagine the sense of betrayal and violation that gay couples in California must have felt when their wedding plans were cut short by the passage of Proposition 8. Thankfully I can concentrate on worrying about the height of the centerpieces, and whether the scent of the flowers will interfere with the taste of the food. Ultimately I'm still not sure what marriage "means," but Michael and I can make it up as we go along.
Congrats, Gabriel and Michael. Much success as you make it up along the way.

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