Gay marriage ban failed!

Whether or not you agree with gay marriage, the Constitution is not designed to limit rights, rather to grant them. Luckily, enough of our senators agreed and pulled the plug on the amendment this morning.

But here’s the argument Bush and company has been making that’s just irked me to death: that marriage is the “most enduring human institution.” I’m a supporter of marriage (probably because I’ve never been married :), but the history of marriage is more of a social contract to bind women that what it is today. From biblical times to a few hundred years ago marriage was generally not entered into for love, it was entered into for the economic benefits it would bring to the family. The history of marriage also includes, polygamy, arranged marriages, child brides, even “virginity tests” and female circumcisions—some still performed today. The idea of romantic love or courtship isn’t even believed to be introduced until medieval times.

While it is one of the oldest “human institutions,” marriage has not been the way we see it today for 1,000 of years as many proponents of the Amendment have suggested. For more info on the history of marriage, here’s a great article for further reading.

posted by Sarai @ 12:35 PM