When you need permission to love someone, it’s not for love anymore. Marriage licenses are ruining the sanctity of marriage.

Everyone is celebrating the rights of gays to be married across all fifty states and I’m over here like, “So what?” Church and state are supposed to be separate anyway. So; why did we ever allow the federal government or the state to poke their noses into our homes? Or more importantly, our bedrooms? How you choose to live should never be dictated by someone else and their religion. It’s your inherent right to love. And if love means marriage for you, why do you need permission? Gay or straight, the whole concept of having to ask permission from the state to be wed should be an insult!

But, we’re celebrating. It’s a step in the right direction. I remember detesting the sanctions of matrimony in my days of engagement. Yes, I was engaged; twice. I never could put my finger on why I didn’t want that church wedding with a priest standing with me at the end of aisle. I just felt that getting married should be something personal and private. With the state involved marriage becomes a contract. It’s not about love anymore. You are promising the state; and your partner; and the priest; and everyone you invite to the ceremony, something that you can’t actually promise. That you will always feel the way that you do.

As most little girls do, I dreamed of my wedding. Calla lilies and peacock feathers as my bouquet, located in a birch forest or by a beach (I had time to sort through all that; I was 6!), but, never in my fantasies about being married was there ever, EVER, a priest. I never imagined signing a marriage license with my significant other, never dreamed that I may have to petition to be with someone that I wanted to be with. I wonder… Am I alone in this?