Belly of the Beast

Down in Connecticut, Ryvr is intellecutally and emotionally involved in the marriage/civil-union debate and legislation. See his blog for comments from the trenches.

He's against DoMA wording too, and remarks:

There is a theme that runs through the right-wing successes of the past few years and also the liberal failures. It is this: the right-wingers wage their campaigns on *principles*, even if they are misguided ones. We must have principles both in order to win and also to be able to sleep at night.

These are my principles with regard to equal marriage rights and civil unions:

- Same-sex couples fully and urgently deserve equal marriage rights.

- Civil unions may give some of the rights of marriage, but this separate-and-not-equal institution is overall an insult and should not be welcomed.

- DOMA's (Defense of Marriage Act) are unconstitutional and wrong. They cannot be accepted under any circumstances, certainly not as a compromise with civil unions.