Luther and Calvin, LaQuana and Stephanie, and Superman and Bill and Ted. Climbing Up the Slippery Slope.
By Luis GonzalezThe Last Wire
(Harrisburg, PA) Like so many, the wedding procession began with a small and adorably unsure 3-year-old flower girl in a pristine white dress. Before proceeding down the aisle lined by rose petals and about 50 guests in white folding chairs, the little girl's big eyes looked questioningly back at her father — the bride's brother — who was waiting to walk his sister up to Stephanie Stewart, the woman who would soon be her wife.
Stewart, in a white suit and red bowtie, kept her composure. Her bride, LaQuana Myrick, sobbed what friends called happy tears as she walked in a flowing white gown toward the outdoor gathering at the Fort Hunter Mansion along the Susquehanna River. After the two exchanged vows and rings, Rev. Lori E. Rivera of the Metropolitan Community Church of the Spirit declared Myrick and Stewart “to be wedded wives in the eyes of God and all people.”
“I now pronounce you legally married,” Rivera said.
Our society is, ten years after Obergefell v. Hodges,
still immersed in a battle over the definition of marriage. The sides remain split along these lines:
A) Those who rally behind the cry of “defend traditional marriage” and/or “defend the sanctity of marriage.”
B) Those who muster around the banner of "equal standing in the eyes of the law" as citizens.
C) Those who don’t really care one way or another.
I think it only fair for me to state where I stand on the issue before I go any further. I believe that consenting adults of sound mind and body should be able to enter into a legally recognized civil union called marriage, with all issues of consanguinity, age of consent, etc., settled at the state level. That goes for heterosexual and homosexual marriages alike.
Having said that, and being an individual who has enjoyed the fruit of the venerable institution called marriage — having been myself institutionalized for over thirty years now — I have a tremendous amount of respect for the defenders of traditional marriage and their efforts to stop us from sliding down the slippery slope of societal perdition.
