Marriage - What The Heck Is It?

Okay, I'm not going to definitively answer that question in this one post. In fact, I will probably pose more questions. One of my favorite writers, Dennis Potter, has his character, The Singing Detective, say (and I am totally paraphrasing - though I will correct it when I find the passage...) "They always want stories that are all answers, no questions; I write about life - all questions, no answers."

Defining marriage is a subject that has been bandied about because of gay marriage. There is a need felt by some people for "The Defense of Marriage". DOMA Watch , which supports the preservation of marriage as between a man and a woman, is nevertheless a very clear website with links to updated news regarding the legal status of same-gender marriage in the U.S.

Today's question is, why does marriage need defending?

Is it because it is fragile? Well, that it is. The oft-quoted statistic of around half the marriages in the United States ending in divorce seems to be correct. Marriage is difficult; it requires attention and compassion, and love, and humor and imagination and all sorts of things.

Will it be less fragile if the two people who pledge their love and lives to each other are both female or both male? No. It will be probably be just the same - but who knows? Maybe if we are living in a society where the freedom to legally unite in marriage is open to heterosexuals and homosexuals without distinction between the groups - maybe marriage will be stronger for the model of that widespread acceptance.