(I began this thread in the Pit simply because I figured, due to the subject matter, it was gonna wind up there eventually. If any moderator feels it’s better suited to Questions, feel free to move it there).
Just got back from CNN.com, where they’re talking about the Senate’s yammerfest about gay marriage today.
Now, we’ve heard enough about “the sacred institution of marriage” that I don’t much feel like going into it. I will say that if it’s so damn sacred, how is it that elected secular officials can perform them?
…but that’s not my point here.
My point has to do with a pro-amendment Senator who seemed to feel that marriage was all about children. Having them, protecting them, raising them, and so on and so forth.
I found this disturbing. My government is telling me that the entire reason for the existence of marriage is to procreate, rear, and socialize children?
Does this mean that any childless marriage is… in some way… wrong, or immoral, or blasphemous, or illegal or unconstitutional, or some fraggin’ thing?
I mean, I NEVER regarded marriage as being about children. Jesus, I can have all the kids I want without messing with MARRIAGE! Assuming all you Doper women could help me out, there, that is. Speaking hypothetically, of course.
I have pondered marriage three times in my life. On the first two occasions, children were the furthest thing from my mind. I was not pondering marriage to have children; I was pondering marriage because I was very much in love with the person I was considering marrying. Children? What the hell? A little soon, don’t you think?
The only child I thought about the third time was the child my wife had by her previous husband. The only reason I thought about HER was because she was old enough to understand what was going on, and it occurred to me that the situation was therefore more complicated than the ordinary consideration of marriage between two people, yes? After all, if stepkid hated me, this could complicate a newlywed relationship, don’cha think?
The last thing on my mind was the procreation of yet more kids. I wanted to get married because I loved my girlfriend, not because I wanted kids.
(Third time was the charm, by the way. Been married ten years now. The kid in question survived nicely, and is now in college. We got along fine.)
So, one could say, since my wife and I never had any kids TOGETHER, that my marriage is a sham in the eyes of government and God? Or does my stepfatherhood validate me in some way?