I’ve never witnessed a gay marriage.  But tonight the memories of many gay couples drift through my mind.  Couples who opened their homes to their friends, and counted me among them.  Couples who broke up, as so many mismatched couples do.  Couples with kids who play with my own.  Couples of whom I only know half, as colleagues in my workplace.

Thinking of all these couples, my heart aches.  For so many to be mobilized against them.  For so many to “draw the line” when it comes to their love, their relationship.  For so many to feel that marriage between these couples somehow threatens their own marriages, that the relationship is somehow unworthy.  For something that should be such a blessing, such a comfort, to be put to a question, to be something that must be fought for.

A Christian family in my neighborhood has a “Yes on 8” sign in their yard.  Seeing it there as I drive past every day fills me with pain.   I look forward to November 5, just to see the sign taken down.

If the gay marriage ban passes, or if the gay marriage ban fails, large numbers of people will feel that society has taken a big step in the wrong direction.  And that is the saddest part of all.  For you see, I have friends who are gay, and friends who are straight.  Friends who are for the ban, and friends who are against it.  And for them to be threatened by each other, breaks my heart.