Gay Marriage

California's recent ruling to allow gay marriage has been in the national news lately. I'm just conservative enough for the word "marriage" between two same sex people to rankle me. I'm just liberal enough to think this is none of my business and why can't they have some of the benefits that are automatic with legal marriage?

One of our city's largest employers recognizes domestic partnerships in terms of benefits, etc. I suspect more and more companies will do the same in coming years. It's a good time to be a lawyer because I am certain that many of these unions will fail and without a legal partnership, people will be suing for what they assume is rightfully theirs.

I don't have the answers. The heterosexual model of marriage has proven to be less than ideal. The statistics are dismal.

As a society, we seem to have surrendered to the idea of a baby or two before marriage as an okay thing. Two people living together is no longer considered living in sin. Divorce isn't shocking. (I'm not judging -- I've done a couple of these things myself.)

I don't understand the fear. What could gay marriage do to this institution that we haven't already done?