Pennsylvania is littered with new billboards that ask questions like “Should Pennsylvania walk out on marriage?” and “Should Pennsylvania kiss marriage goodbye?”
Each time I pass one, I shout out, “Hell no!”
I suspect, however, that I’m interpreting the questions differently than they were intended. They are part of a statewide campaign for a marriage amendment, sponsored by the group Pennsylvania for Marriage. Legislation to put an amendment on the ballot already died in the state house from lack of support from our elected representatives, but the folks at PA4Marriage still think they speak for all Pennsylvanians. They’re intent on passing an amendment to ban marriage and civil unions.
All in the name of “protecting” marriage.
You see, they worry that letting people marry will destroy marriage by redefining.
We decided to do our part to test that theory.
So we got married, and now we’re waiting to see if the world falls apart.
We didn’t take this on lightly. We’ve been considering our options for a long time now.
One choice was to wait until we have full marriage rights at both the state and federal level. I’m often accused of being a “political purist,” but even I realized that this choice hurts no one but us.
Another choice was to go to Canada or New Jersey to have a marriage or civil union. That option carried the weight of some level of official recognition, but it would vanish the moment we returned home.
In the end, we decided that what was most important was to be married before our friends, our family (those who would attend), and our God.
So we had a wedding that means absolutely nothing legally but absolutely everything to us.
The law won’t call us married. Our employers and insurance company won’t call us married. PA4Marriage won’t call us married. But we call ourselves married and I truly believe that God considers us to be married.
We stood before family, friends and vowed to love and honor each other for the rest of our lives, to support and care for each other, and to work together to help those around us.
If that’s redefining marriage, so be it. Let Armageddon begin.
