I have a different perspective these days on gay marriage. I see it as a plea from the world of existential angst.
If I were a gay person, trying to find a current life of love and human comfort and concerned about longevity in my relations and worried about being cared for in my old age....marriage and family would look appealing.
Actually I have those concerns, even though marriage is always available to me, despite having eight wonderful grandchildren and three spectacular biological children. I realize that nothing...nothing can diminish existential angst. We are born alone, we live alone and we die alone...no relations, no spouse or offspring are certain, permanent nor perfect. Families and marriage are far from perfect and often particularly difficult. But marriage and family look good.
I can see where the creation of the exciting, vital and
somewhat comfortable life of the gay community has evoked these
existential questions in the growing maturity of the community. A
brunch with forty beautiful and interesting gay men in their late
thirties and early forties can look daunting when mortality raises its
head.
It is a similar comfort with American commercial life that is supporting the rapid growth of family friendly Mormon churches and family friendly evangelical Christian mega-churches.
Comfort and success inevitably raise existential questions. 'Why do we live?'