A standing ovation should go out to the CA Supreme Court. In their landmark decision to strike down all existing CA laws against same-sex marriage, they took a rational and wholesome step forward for our nation and our civilization. Finally, someone in power said 'enough' to the disgusting bigotry and superstition that have shouted down most discussions of gay equality in this country.

Call a spade a spade. The people who argue so hotly, with veins standing out in their red necks, that gay marriage "redefines" or “destroys” marriage are the same gang of spiteful thugs who used to say that interracial marriage was an abomination, and that slavery was not only sanctioned but encouraged by their favorite Bronze Age best-seller... you know, it's that book that also teaches you to stone your unruly children to death.

Marriage is what we want it to be. It's as simple as that. Marriage is a social construct that ritualizes long term pair-bonding behavior in humans. In different societies it takes different forms. In societies where men call all the shots, and enjoy the odious pastime of beating their wives to death if they, say, go to the bathroom without written permission or accidentally expose an ankle in public, marriage takes the form of "one man and as many women as he can purchase". That's a case of marriage as designed by bullies, and most modern societies have grown up enough to have abandoned that particular form of "marriage".

Thirty years ago in the US, marriage meant "one man and one woman, both of the same race". Since then, our country has grown up a little more, and now people don't usually have to worry about being burned alive if they happen to fall in love with someone having a different amount of melanin in their skin.

Now we come to the final barrier; gay marriage. And of course the nation's most vocal and shameless bigots just can't put up with it. They're so frustrated that their Bronze Age values are fading away, their infatuation with blind obedience to authority is giving way to reason and science, and their ancient superstitions and prejudices and hatreds are being exposed, one after another, as the vile and hateful filth they always have been.

Those who scream and shriek that marriage is "between one man and one woman" like to say that because that's the way THEY want it to be. It's what they, personally, feel... and because of the particularly disgusting way that ignorant bigots always think they are so very, very righteous, it becomes absolutely imperative to them that EVERYONE obey the same idiotic “traditions” they do. So, national public policy regarding tax and property disbursements between pair-bonded people becomes dominated not by rational thought, not by live-and-let-live, not by economic practicality… but by whether Bible-swinging thugs believe the kind of sex you enjoy with another consenting adult is icky.

And that’s about all they have. That they think gay sex is icky. That’s it. They don’t like gay sex, they can’t stop thinking about how much they hate gay sex, and they just won’t rest until everyone on the face of the Earth has sex just like they do. Or else. You love who you’re told to love, and you don’t ask questions. You take all the bile and spite that they throw at you, and you don’t complain, because a bunch of flea-ridden ancient goat herders with a really big mean streak have decided all these pertinent issues for us, several thousand years ago. Well…. no.

Gay marriage is marriage. Period. Whether or not the laws can be modernized to recognize that doesn’t change the feelings two people have for each other, or the commitment they make to support and care for each other throughout their lives. Marriage isn’t holy, it isn’t some magical spell cast by priests or shamans. It’s a bond of trust and affection between two consenting adults, entered into willingly, announced publicly, and it’s none of my or anyone else’s bloody business. You marry who you want, and I’ll marry who I want. You stay out of my bedroom, and I’ll stay out of yours. You let me mind my own private affairs, manage my own property within the law, and love my adult, consenting partner as I wish, and I’ll extend you the same opportunities. How about we try that?

The next time some pious brute tells you they think gay sex is wrong and that gays don’t deserve marriage, you ask them if their wife likes to be on top (or if they themselves do, if it’s a woman). Then, as they sputter, tell them you think that kind of sex is an abomination. Tell them that if they enjoy such unnatural sexual practices (not to mention such non-reproductive abominations as oral sex), well, then they don’t really have what YOU would call a marriage. Tell them that according to your deeply-held beliefs, they are just pretending to be married, that their marriage is a slap in God’s face. See how quickly they can approach a cardiac infarction when the shoe’s on the other foot, even for a moment, even to one person.

The US Constitution doesn’t say a word about gay marriage, but it does say, very clearly, that among the most important principals that guide our society is the preservation and protection of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” If being able to marry the consenting adult you love doesn’t qualify as “pursuing happiness”, it really isn’t clear what does.

Yesterday, in California, we grew up a little bit more.