Francis Beckwith, who happens to be one of Eldest Daughter’s professors at Baylor, suggests in this blog post that social conservatives engage in some “street theatre” in order to demonstrate the absolute absurdity of what’s going on in San Francisco. He suggests that conservatives go to city hall and “request marriage licenses, but not for gay marriages, rather, for other sorts of “unions” that are also forbidden by the state: three bi-sexuals from two genders, two men and a goat (or another non-human companion), one person who wants to marry himself (and have him accuse the mayor of “numberism,” the prejudice that marriage must include more than one person), two married couples who want a temporary “wife swap lease”, a man who wants to add a second wife and a first husband in order to have a “marital ensemble,” etc., etc. Let’s see if the mayor will give these people marriage licenses. If not, why not?”
I even thought of more ideas. Why couldn’t Eldest Son and I get married? Or since he’s not yet “a consenting adult,” Eldest Daughter and I could tie the knot. After all, we love each other, and why should anyone be able to deny us the right to express that love? I do already have a husband, but why should that be an obstacle? Why can’t I be married to both of them? I love both of them. I heard that in France the other day they issued a marriage license for a woman to marry a dead man. I want to marry Tolkien. And why do we have to limit marriage to humans? My friend loves her cat; why can’t they get married? (I, on the other hand, would pay good money not to live with or marry any cat. Each to his own.) The permutations are endless–if marriage means whatever Mayor Newsom and I choose for it to mean.
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’ –Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Who is defining the words these days? Is anyone out there?