"In the intensifying debate over same-sex marriage, what I sometimes find hardest to understand is why so many opponents don’t see gay people’s longing to be wedded as the fundamentally conservative, lavishly complimentary desire it is. It says marriage is worth aspiring to and fighting for. Flatters it. Gives it reinvigorated cachet, extra currency, a sorely needed infusion of fresh energy.
...It’s funny (but, then again, not): in the past, homosexuals were denounced as sexual libertines who brazenly flouted society’s norms. Now many of us are pleading to be yoked to those norms, only to be told by many Americans, including many political leaders, that that’s not O.K. either. The only possible takeaway is that we’re meant to be outliers forevermore, unworthy of the experiences and affirmations accorded others.
...family values, two words that have often been invoked in the argument against same-sex marriage. It’s time to turn the phrase around. What gay and lesbian couples are asking is to be recognized as families. And they’re just idealistic enough to hope that everyone realizes how much value there is in that"
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Value Our Families
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