"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman."

(side note of irony: this amendment is being championed by Republicans, traditionally the party who things the government should stay out of such things.)

To be clear, I'm not bothered by gay marriage. I probably won't go on a march for it, but I'm not going to write a letter to the editor against it, either. For those of you who like math, let's take a look at Wade's public policy apathy test:

For public policy X, a) Do I feel strongly about the issue? b) Does it mean less money for my family? If a) is yes, do I feel strongly regardless of tax ramifications? If yes, then I am not apathetic. If a) is no and b) is yes, then I am not apathetic. If a) is no and b) is no, then we've struck apathy.

Unless someone tells me different, gay marriage is part of that third scenario for me. I can see the arguments for it, don't really buy the arguments against it (especially the need to change the Constitution), so whatever.

What surprises me, though, is some of the people arguing against it. One of the audio streams I occupy my ears with at work is Dr. James Dobson's daily radio show. If you don't know, Dr. Dobson is the founder of Focus on the Family, a non-profit organization with a strong Christian bent that weighs in on world/national issues, relationships, families, etc. For the most part, I'm on board with the good doctor. But he, along with other religious leaders, seem so hell-bent (pardon the pun) on defending marriage, and I'm wondering why.

Dobson alone equates gay marriage with "utter destruction of the family," and sees it as a gateway to polygamy, pornography, and perversion in public schools. Generations hang in the balance of this decision, and if gay marriage is allowed the demise of society as we know it is imminent.

Apparently gay marriage does not pass Dr. Dobson's apathy test.

Without wanting to get overly Jesusy on you, the Bible I read encourages love for your neighbor, and says the true fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I see very little of this from the normally rational-sounding Dobson. If two people truly love each other, and happen to be of the same gender, who am I to say that they can't be married?

Maybe there's something I'm not seeing-- but I just don't get the rabid opposition. But maybe my apathy test is faulty.