A Dream Within A Dream

Yesterday evening at five o'clock, we waited expectantly to slide off into the ocean. Not because we live on one of the most dangerous and active faults in North America, but because California started performing same-sex marriages again. If there is some cosmic retribution, then one can only imagine that there will be a pause while the state fills up with sinners before the state cracks off the continent and drifts into some abyss.
But maybe its more a common-sense issue. My son asked what gay couples do, when they have kids, on Mother's Day and Father's Day. It wasn't a judgemental concern, just a procedural one. Just like today, when every county in California will be required to start issuing new gender-neutral marriage licenses with spaces for "Party A" and "Party B" where "bride" and "groom" used to be. And here's the other big deal for the Golden State: Unlike Massachusetts, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2004, California has no residency requirement for marriage licenses.
I know that there is a vast discussion of religion and marriage that can go on for several decades, but if the biggest threat that we can find to our current way of life is men and women getting married, not necessarily to each other, then we must be doing pretty well. Contrastingly, I would suggest that California's sagging economy will only benefit from the influx of couples coming here to "make it legal."
On Monday, three California lawmakers and a small group of other same-sex opponents gathered outside the Capitol to criticize the Supreme Court decision. They urged voters to approve a ballot measure that would overturn the high court ruling and again ban gay marriage.
"This is an opportunity to take back a little bit of dignity ... for kids, for all of us in California," Republican Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa said. "It really disturbs me that the will of the people was overridden by four members of the Supreme Court."
I'm not sure if Mister LaMalfa, married father of four, has considered the role that the Supreme Court played in this decision. Their job was to determine the constitutionality of a piece of legislation. They determined that no laws were being broken. Their job was is not to determine the "will of the people." For that, we have to wait until November, and until then we just hope that we don't bring on The Rapture.