Please sign the Million For Marriage petition. If enough people do, it's tangible evidence of the support for gay marriage and sends that message to the powers that be.

Why is gay marriage so important? Isn't it just a piece of paper?

I think this is a good time to note that Sarah and I recently got married. Well, we got married in our eyes. Beyond us, our friends and some family this is as far as the validity of it goes. So why do we want to be married legally. Isn't this enough? Well, most people don't think about the things that marriage gives and, honestly, a lot is taken for granted. But think about this:

✦ If I'm involved in a horrific car accident, my spouse should be able to be "family" and "next of kin" and be with me. She won't be. Unlike any of you here who are married, my spouse will have to wait outside until my mother or father shows up [after a 24 hour flight] and raises hell about it. Even then she might not get visitation rights. And heaven help those whose families do not embrace their union. The one will not be allowed past the waiting room and their spouse will die without them. The dying denied love because of someone else's beliefs and a government who ignores us. Where's the Christian charity in that? (let's not pretend that religion is not at the core of this)
✦ If we have a child and let's say Sarah is the biological mother, if she dies I have no rights regarding my child. (but had I married a man, and even if he was a psychopathic murderer, he'd have rights). Sarah's second cousins would have far more rights regarding our child than I would.
✦ If we're not both citizens the US, we have no rights regarding immigration as heterosexual couples who marry do. And immigrating to America is not as easy as many would lead you to believe. It's about the hardest place there is to gain entry to, especially these days. At least if you play by the rules and we're not about to do anything silly. If you want to 'buy' a Russian bride, bring this stranger to American and marry her, you sure can . But if you are in love but of the same sex, forget it.
✦ If special tax dispensations are given to married heterosexual couples (and they are), why should we not have those same privileges when we contribute the same ways socially and economically? This is a minor point, really, but it does illustrate the inequity.

No. It's not about the paper. And we really couldn't care less what it's called. If someone thinks up another word for it, I have no problem with that. Leave marriage to the Christian right if that's how it needs to play out. Give us "civil union" or somesuch. It's really all about equal recognition. But right now the rights afforded to those who can claim marriage are the rights we're denied. It's not about the paper, it's about the dignity, acknowledgement and respect that's denied us. We have our marriage now. It's between us and between us we don't need any paper to make it 'real'. But we don't have the rights that two drunken heterosexual strangers can gain in Nevada in about 30 minutes. Their union is deemed sacred and acceptable and legal. Ours, deviant and despicable.

We'd rather be living in America, but America won't recognise our union. So we live here in Australia because the door hasn't been shut as it has in the Land Of The Free. So, please sign and say you wish us all the same dignity and equal treatment that other couples have.