How did gay citizens ever get the right to vote, and shouldn't we take it away from them? How about the right to own property? The right of due process? How did all of those rights sneak in? After all, by denying gay Americans the right to marry, we are barring them from participation in a legal process. Why not bar them from participation in all legal processes? It makes no sense.

This is what right-wing Christians and various other confused Americans don't understand, and it is scary that they don't understand it: Marriage is a legal institution. It can be blessed by a church, but it is a legal institution all the way. If you are Roman Catholic and you divorce and remarry (well, that is, if you're not one of the thousands who are granted annulments), your marriage is no longer recognized by the church, but it is legal. You continue to receive all of the benefits of your marriage, as do your children.

Those cowards who want to call gay unions something other than "marriage" are capitulating to the ignorance of the same citizens who screamed and shouted that black children would never enter their schools. The civil rights movement spawned the states' rights movement, and "states' rights" became a code word for segregation. Now, the Republican Party--which has spent decades cheering for states' rights--isn't interested in the concept at all, but wants to change the Constitution so that gay Americans cannot participate in a legal process.

There are probably thousands of Americans who do not have a strong fear of anything homosexual, but who do not think that gay marriage is an important issue. Well, it's very important if you're gay. But beyond that, any time a religious movement seeks to alter the foundation of our government and restrict which Americans can have legal rights, it is very, very important.