MARRIAGE EQUALITY NATIONWIDE

[SteelCurtain]

That's the problem. We don't already have that. Since this country began, the government has only recognized marriage as between a man and a woman. Now we're creating something else. Why do we have to redefine an institution that means so much to so many Americans in order to grant equal rights to everyone? Nobody has answered my question as to whether colleges should redefine sororities or fraternities to include members of both sexes or is it okay to leave it as it is where each enjoys equal status. If there are students who want to have mixed sex brotherhoods (or whatever) then allow them to create them and give them equal status. Why the need to force a change to an institution?

We're not creating something else. It is the same institution, with expanded rights to include 10-15% of the population who were excluded. The bottom line is, as the SCOTUS opined, that at its basest level marriage is an intimate contract freely entered by two parties who wish to elevate that intimacy. Excluding anybody who is legally able to consent to that is ludicrous, and a violation of the 14th Amendment. Nothing about your marriage or any other marriage has changed as of yesterday. You've been told it has, but you'll go on just like you did before. If you can tell me one thing about this institution that means so much to you that has changed in regards to your marriage, please feel free to do so.

The sorority analogy isn't apt because fraternal orders were already expanded to include sororities. No one is being denied entry into a fraternal order, because Title IX makes it clear that for every organization for males, there must also be one for females. If you meet the criteria for getting into a fraternal order (Selected Major, referral, etc.) then you will get in provided you pass some draconian test or another. Also, to compare a club to a legal right (one affirmed multiple times by the SCOTUS as a right) is a little misleading. You don't have the right to join a fraternity just because you want to, but you do have the right to get married if you want to.