Today's Boston Globe has several pieces about the fact that it's the one-year anniversary of the first legal gay marriages in Massachusetts. In the paper's lead editorial, it notes that more than 5,000 gay couples have wed in the ensuing year--and yet the state has a lower divorce rate than "any of the 18 states that have adopted constitutional bans on gay marriage." This despite "the mundane reality...that, as the result of the Supreme Judicial Court decision allowing these marriages, nearly every resident of the state now has gay married couples as neighbors."
As the paper says,
It strains the imagination to see how a year of gay marriage has caused the state any discernible harm. Supporters even point to a modest economic boost due to tourism and other local spending on gay weddings. But the reason to toast today's wedding anniversaries has little to do with tax revenues and everything to do with the riches that come from extending civil rights to every citizen.Illinois, are you listening?
Meanwhile, Anne and Chad Gifford offer a more personal reflection regarding what is has meant for their family that their gay son was able to marry his longtime partner. It's a beautiful explanation of why allowing gay marriage is a family values issue--and not the way the religious right means it. If this is the only link you follow from this blog, that would be OK with me.
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