Regarding “Proposition 8 is still making waves” (Nov. 27), the real issue here is that words do mean things. Gay and lesbian people already have the right to get married anywhere. A gay man can marry a lesbian woman or a straight woman, and a lesbian woman can marry a gay man or a straight man.
The word “marriage” has a meaning. It has always meant that it is what happens between a man and a woman so as to become a husband and a wife, so as—in the vast majority of cases—to become a biological father and mother.
If a man who is gay decides he wants to develop some sort of “union” with another man, then it should be called a “gaymiage.” If a woman wants to develop a union with another woman, then it could be called a “lesbiage.” Either of these events should not be called what they are not; that is, a “marriage.” Not doing so does not make anyone a “second-class citizen,” nor anything else. It merely accentuates the fact that an attempt is being made to unnecessarily redefine the true meaning of a word.
To call events and objects what they are not and to usurp and redefine words arbitrarily is anathema to our language and to our basic understandings of life. Meaningless words provide meaningless insights.
You, as a journalist, should be most conscious of this fundamental truth. If you have any doubts, I urge you to re-read Orwell’s 1984.
David Morgan
Asheville, N.C.
This article appears in Dec 11-18, 2008.