A loud, gasping death...

So, it passed. The big one.  The amendment that gives discrimination a sacred place in our State Constitution.
But was does it's passing really mean?  I don't mean legally--for those of us against the measure, the implications--and dangers--were very clear.  What I mean is, what are the cultural implications?  How does an amendment like this pass in 2012?  How does it pass when national support for gay marriage is so "high"?  Some polls suggest that 50% or better of the population is in support of making gay marriage legal.
I have an idea.  It involves the last, gasping breaths of a culture about to turn the corner of history.  Some deaths are quiet, peaceful processes.  Others are fought to the bitter end, with gasps for air and pleas to a higher power to grant more time on this side of Heaven. Just as other cultural beliefs--on the whole--had to die, so this will too.  When women fought for the right to vote, there were loud, guttural protests from a culture that did not want to relinquish its political power to women.  When civil rights were finally granted to Black citizens--as they always should have been--once again the cries of a dying cultural system could be heard.  This is no different. It is painful for all of us--those who have already walked the path in support of equality, and those of us who will come along kicking, screaming, fighting, and voting in support of another time in History.

My marriage is under attack...

That's right.  My traditional, supposedly God-ordained Biblically-based marriage is under attack. By whom, you ask? Perhaps it is all the unmarried people who choose to live together rather than marry. Or maybe the people who marry for "love", but have no intention of producing children (isn't that the true purpose of marriage?  I've heard it said many times...). Maybe it's the gays and lesbians who want to undermine this sacred, honorable institution by having the state bless their union formally. 
Nope. In fact, I don't have a problem with any of the above arrangements, nor do I believe that a gay couple wishing to marry undermines the institution of marriage. I don't believe that giving the gay community access to marriage dishonors the institution in any way, and I don't think that folks wanting to marry are attacking my marriage.
Is my marriage under attack?  Some days. But it has nothing to do with my gay friends wanting to marry.  It has to do with the two people who make up my marriage.  We don't make time for each other, and sometimes we don't even care.  We choose our personal interests over each other.  I'd rather watch TV than have sex.  He'd rather play video games than talk politics with me. I work late and come home when he's asleep.  He has meetings, so I eat at home with our "kids" by myself. We argue. We have good times, too, of course--but I'm specifically discussing the ways in which my marriage is "under attack".  It has nothing to do with others.  The longevity of my marriage is up to two people, and no one else. For others to say that marriage is threatened by anything but the individuals who comprise the union is disingenuous at best, and homophobic at worst.  If we really think marriage is the sacred, honorable institution we claim it is, then we will do three things: make it easier for people to enter into it, insist that each couple "own" their marriage and not blame others if things go wrong, and stop telling people who they can and cannot marry.