Family, Not Love

Arizona has been in the news this week regarding SB 1062, a bill that would allow businesses to refuse service to gay people because of their 'sincerely held religious beliefs.'

Today I read an article talking about an interview with Bill Donohue, the Catholic League President, with Chris Cuomo on CNN (I also watched the full interview). I am not going to touch on the Arizona bill (because it is blatant discrimination), but something that Donohue said struck a nerve.

He said that marriage is not about love, but is about family and has historically been based on duty and commitment.

Now I don't know about you, but when Mike and I first wanted to get married, it was because we loved each other.  From that love and because of that love, we made a commitment to each other.  Our marriage is not about family (though our families are amazing and get along splendidly) or procreation because we don't want children.  To us, our family is complete with the two of us and our 2 dogs.

I am pretty sure that the woman who cannot carry a child or the man that had testicular cancer and a subsequent orchiectomy would argue that their marriages are not based on having a family either.


Society changes and with that, history changes.  Clinging to what used to be or what traditionally has been prevents us from knowing what could be.  Every person is different, every couple is different, and every marriage is different.  Let's embrace that and celebrate it and learn from it rather than define it as 'not natural' or 'weird' and let's change the course of history.