Heartbreak

I came across this article through Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic, and the case of Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag is one that dramatizes the very real financial burdens that result from marriage inequality in our society. At a very basic level, the whole situation begs the question as to why the state should at all be involved in the decision of whom one loves and (theoretically, at least) decides to spend the rest of one's life with. As a straight male, it offends me that I am able to marry any woman off the street without having to know anything more than the basic "who what where when" details of her life, yet committed same-sex partners of 30 or more years do not share in the ability to publicly declare their covenant with each other.

This movement to expand equal rights is not about a government decree from on high; it is an ongoing conversation amongst friends and neighbors that challenges opinions and assumptions and asks for explanations. Think of Annie and ask why.