Marriage: Defined for the 21st Century

I BELIEVE IN MARRIAGE. It is one of the most wonderful institutions developed by the human race, in which two people can commit to one another, in a faithful, loving partnership, for life. There are few things in life more beautiful than an old married couple still seen together, holding hands, smiling, on their gold or diamond wedding anniversary: it’s like watching a glorious sunset lighting up the entire sky with its glow.

It is precisely because I believe in marriage that I believe the right to marry should be extended to all people, irrespective of gender or orientation: I believe in Equal Marriage; and I was delighted to discover this definition of marriage in my computer’s dictionary yesterday:

Marriage, as defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition © 2005 by Oxford University Press, Inc., via Apple’s Dictionary.app, Version 2.1.3 (80.4)

The significance of this can hardly be overstated as it reveals the fallacy of those who argue that marriage cannot be “redefined” — it not only can be: it has been; not so much redefined, however, as its definition extended. The old definition of “the formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife” still stands, but it stands alongside a further definition: “a similar long-term relationship between partners of the same sex.”

The arguments of the so-called “Coalition for Marriage” (C4M) — which seeks to restrict marriage to heterosexual relationships on the grounds of supposed “profound consequences” that “those who believe in traditional marriage will be sidelined” — are thus exposed as the folly they truly are. The recognition of equal marriage does not sideline the “traditional” view of marriage, but simply acknowledges both.

This is not, as one of my facebook friends wrongly assumed, an appeal to authority; it is, rather, a recognition of reality. Equal rights require equal rites, and I look forward to when that day comes here in the UK.