Marriage Protection... protected from whom?

I'm a straight, married, soon-to-be pastor's wife, and I'm trying to figure out this Marriage Protection thing.

Who's protecting my marriage to Lex, and from what? Is it like real estate values? If gays get to marry, "there goes the neighborhood"?

Will our marriages actually lose intrinsic value? If so, does the whole institution trade on Wall Street?

Tell you what, I'll be happy when my sisters-in-law, Sharon and Linda, who have been together longer than any of the "straight" marriages in our entire family, can simply get "that little piece of paper."

I don't mean that CHURCHES should be FORCED to marry gay people if they don't want to. That's the scare tactic a lot of pastors are using: "We will have Adam and Steve in OUR CHURCH, both wearing veils, saying that since it's legal, they can get married anywhere they want."

It's not true! First off, it's about the marriage license, not the ceremony - in other words, the legally binding civil contract, not the wedding. Secondly, God help us if the Federal Government ever has so much power that they can tell churches what to do, ever!

Finally, to all my Christian friends who believe that gays will (and should) burn in Hellfire: If that's where all my friends are going, as well as Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi and Emma Goldman and practically anyone else who doesn't fit your definition of "Christian," then I guess I'm going, too, along with the entire United Church of Christ, the Unitarians, and a whole lot of other folks.

Jesus said, "Love your God and love your neighbor as you love yourself." If we're not getting that right, we're not really following Jesus.

Amy Barlow Liberatore
Mom for Marriage Equity
"All You Need Is Love" (John Lennon will be burning in hell too, I guess...)