I don’t think it will hurt your marriage, or mine. The whole argument is semantics – on both sides. Some people want to call same-sex relationships marriages because they think it shows respect. And some people want don’t want to call them marriages because they think it takes away from the concept. (And there are lots of other groups who think other things, I’m sure.)

You can have the same discussion about plural marriage or lots of other kinds of relationships. (You could even have it about words like love.) It’s just a matter of what you want to let into the club. And, of course, if there’s a club and you’re not letting everyone in, then you need to have a line and some rules.

What should those rules be and who should set them? It’s hard for me to see why the government should get involved, and it probably makes most sense to leave it up to society as a whole … in which case we (as in the US as a whole) seem to be in the middle-ground right now where society doesn’t agree. Seems like a perfectly reasonable place to be – especially since we State societies are deciding for themselves.

I don’t know why people get so uppity about it; that’s how it should happen – and not everyone has to agree with you.