California's big "cajones"

I have to give Californian's some credit. They might be too liberal for my liking but at least they have the balls to be controversial and adopt laws that get the religious right all riled up.
In case you've been living in a box and have no clue what I'm talking about, this week California became the 2nd state in the union to adopt laws allowing homosexuals to get married.
I for one have no problem with this and think it's about time that members of the "gay" community be allowed ALL the same rights as any one else. Why gay's aren't allowed to be married is a little beyond me. I understand the arguments of the religious right, but the "institution" of marriage ceased being about love and committment for life between 2 people of the opposite sex a long, long time ago. Nowadays, people get married for all the wrong reasons-mostly for financial ones. The institution is so weak that people get divorced more often then people get married, so if 2 gay people want to make that life long committment to each other and get married then good for them. Personally, any marriage between 2 people who truly love each other and are fully committed to each other-regardless of sexual orientation-can only be a good thing for society.

What really pisses me off about this is that we actually have to make a law in every state that either allows or not allows the homosexual community to marry. That's what gets me. Marriage is a SOCIAL institution, at least that is what it was for centuries. But, because it is more a legal institution than anything else nowadays, there are all sorts of legal ramifications to allowing gays to marry. What about health insurance? Death benefits for spouses? Taxes (who would be considered the head of household)? The list of legal issues in allowing gays to marry is endless, but who cares? As individuals-and a federal government-we have no right to "tell" anyone what they can or cannot do so long as it doesn't break any social law established by the various levels of local and national governments, and last time I checked, the act of getting married-by anyone-was legal and binding so long as it's performed by an ordained minister or preacher, a judge or the oft forgotten ship's captain.

But the Christian right would have us all believe that getting married is a sacred act that belongs to them and them alone. In their eyes marriage is "their" institution. It's sacred. How dare those "homosexual sinners" have the right to the sacred and holy institution of marriage? How dare they desecrate our faith by being allowed to marry?

Well, guess what Christian fundies, as the band They Might Be Giants once said "you aren't the boss of me" and you aren't the boss of them. You have NO right to tell anyone what they can or cannot do and I for one am damn glad that California had the balls to step up to the bar and make it legal for gays to marry.