You put it in your own mouth.

Or do you agree that there is nothing of societal significance that distinguishes your 'want' from the rest of the nonmarriage category of relationshps and arrangemnts?

Then maybe you don't stand on gayness as the decisive factor, afterall, but rather on demoting marriage from its special status.

Either way, your 'want' is simplistic, as you said, and the actual disagreement would be too complicated for you to engage. No crime in that.

Thanks for the concessions.

see my post #9:
"..1,100 benefits of civil marriage, such as the special treatments married persons have with regard to estate tax, Social Security, retirement benefits, etc."

This isn't concrete enough for you? Shall I list all 1,100? The people hurting the longer marriage equality is denied are American gay and lesbian families. You guys feign hurt or damage, but the real people suffering are us right now.

We don't want to misuse anything. Don't put words in our mouths, Chairm. Your windbag rhetoric makes the situation much more complex than it is. Here's a simple definition of same sex marriage for you: I want to marry one person of the same sex that I intend to spend the rest of my life with so that I may enjoy the over 1,100 benefits of civil marriage, such as the special treatments married persons have with regard to estate tax, Social Security, retirement benefits, etc.

Whatever SSM might be (and SSMers are skittish to say what it actually is), the issue for the Church is the core of marriage.

The SSM campaign wants to misuse the marriage law as a vehicle for promoting gay identity politics. Okay, if that's the fight you really want, then, don't whine that people squarely stand against your purpose. The Bishops do so on the firm ground of reason and respect for human dignity.

The hardline SSMers want to change the subject from marriage to homosexuality -- or rather to the assertion of supremacy of their version of identity politics -- and so they'd abandon reason and respect for human dignity.

The world does not revolve around the SSM campaign's self-indulgence. More respectful SSM supporters know the difference and won't go along with the anti-religious antics of the hardliners.

What’s shameful is the Catholic Church’s approval of legal adultery and legal divorce, while opposing, for some unknown reason, only same-sex marriage. Oddly, the Catholic Diocese in DC is happy to give employment benefits to divorced persons, persons who use birth control, people who are or are committing adultery. It’s a pretty hard sell that suddenly you must follow your religion when the issue of homosexuality comes up!

Of course the biggest shame is the Catholic Church’s willingness to use the poor and needy as pawns as it tries to force its selective religious dogma on everyone!

The SSM campaign's corruptive influence begins with the readiness to misrepresent the views of the marriage supporters. It is so predictable that the regular voter is learning that the truth is the virtual opposite of what is presented by SSM sympathizers among reporters in the news media.

Just turn it upside down and your probably closer to the truth, as your example demonstrates.

Brian said: "We’ve known for more than a year how the DC Council would vote. That’s why we’re more determined than ever to make sure the people of the District have a chance to vote on this attack on marriage and religious liberty."

There is no principled basis to deny the direct vote on this. If SSM hardliners on the Council had the courage of their convictions, they'd put their attack on marriage to the test and campaign against the core meaning of marriage and do so in the name of gay identity politics. Afterall, they've already expressed such in their Council proceedings. What are they so scared of? They picked this fight and yet would runaway from it.

Well, we can start by reminding Congress that the DC Council, like schoolyard bullies, have placed their hopes of escape on the shoulders of elected representatives in the nation's legislative branch. Is this the fight they want to join -- on the side of the dodgers whose anti-religous bigotry and anti-marriage sentiments have invited this dust-up on Capitol Hill?

We'll find out soon enough.