“What do you mean?” I said.
“The news is all about people getting married. What’s with
that?”
I thought for a moment. “Oh,” I said, “a judge ruled
yesterday that it is illegal to deny couples the right to marry in our state.”
“The hell you say.”
“It’s true. It’s true.”
“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?”
“Well, uh, … that is … uh. Why do you ask?”
“I know that people get married in your state all the time.
Look at you and Mrs. Big Dope.”
“Yes,” I said. “Look at us: a picture perfect couple.”
“Except when you try to haul her treasures off.”
“I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore,” I
said. “Besides, the ruling now allows people of the same sex to get married.”
This puzzled him. “All three?”
“Uh, we only have two here.”
“What do you do about …”
“That’s quite enough,” I said, interrupting him. “My
mother-in-law is in the next room watching the news.”
“I know,” he said. “She kept asking me what is so gay about
being married?”
I let out my breath. “It means that gay people can get
married now.”
“They couldn’t before?”
“Not here.”
“With all those churches out there, they couldn’t find one
that would marry them?”
“Of course they could find a church that would marry them.
That wasn’t the problem.”
“What was?”
“The state wouldn’t allow it.”
“What’s the state got to do with it?”
“They must recognize the commitment in order to allow
certain legal arrangements.”
“You gotta be shi…”
“C.W.” I said, interrupting him again and nodding toward the
next room.”
He grimaced. “The state gets involved in allowing churches
to marry people?”
“The state is involved in legalizing commitments.”
“But,” he said, “commitments are based on what earthlings
call love, you know, mutual affection and compatibility, the willingness to be
together.”
“Yes,” I said. “That sums it up.”
“So why does the state get involved in all that?”
“Some folks just believe it should.”
I saw a puff of smoke emerge from his ear and caught the
smell of burning rubber.
“Are we overloading your circuits?”
“I’m okay,” he said. I relaxed. “Let me ask you this, in
your world, corporations—that I understand exist only in contemplation of the
law—are considered homo sapiens.”
I thought about this. “Yep.”
“So can they get married?”
It was a tough question but, “Yes. They merge and form
lasting legal commitments all the time.”
He walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee, returned
to the table, and sat. He sipped carefully, and then said, “So do you think
this ruling will last? Lots of folks seemed real happy about it." He stopped and sipped again. Then he said "But, I’ve
noticed that your so-called ‘evangelicals’ don’t care too much for people being
happy. It sort of unnerves them, if you know what I mean.”
 |
| Imagine, a pair of corporations in holy matrimony. - C.W. |
“I do,” I said. “And I am sure they will challenge the court’s
ruling and try to get it overturned.”
“If they should,” he said, “I have a solution for all those
happy folks—a way to keep them happy.”
“How is that?”
“They should just re-form themselves as corporations.”
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