i dotn feel liek we should have to change how a word has been defined for thousands of years because gay couples want to be together.
Too late, already been done according to Wikipedia's definition of marriage (in red):
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates
kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic. Such a union may also be called
matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a
wedding and the marital structure created is known as
wedlock.
People marry for many reasons, most often including one or more of the following: legal, social, emotional, economical, spiritual, and religious. These might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal establishment of a nuclear family unit, the legal protection of children and public declaration of
love.
[1][2]
Marriage practices are very diverse across cultures, may take
many forms, and are often formalized by a ceremony called a
wedding.
[3] The act of marriage usually creates
normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved. In some societies these obligations also extend to certain family members of the married persons. Almost all cultures that recognize marriage also recognize
adultery as a violation of the terms of marriage.
[4]
External recognition can manifest in a variety of ways. Some examples include the
state, a religious authority, or both. It is often viewed as a
contract. Civil marriage is the legal concept of marriage as a governmental institution irrespective of religious affiliation, in accordance with
marriage laws of the jurisdiction. If recognized by the state, by the religion(s) to which the parties belong or by society in general, the act of marriage changes the personal and social status of the individuals who enter into it.
Definitions
According to
Confucius, "Marriage is the union (of the representatives) of two different surnames, in friendship and in love, in order to continue the posterity of the former sages, and to furnish those who shall preside at the sacrifices to heaven and earth, at those in the ancestral temple, and at those at the altars to the spirits of the land and grain."
[5]
Philosopher, historian, and literary essayist
Thomas De Quincey defined marriage as "a union between two persons, who lived in harmony so absolute with each other, as to be independent of the world outside."
[6]
In
lexicography, words have changed and expanded in accordance to the
status quo.
[7] According to the first edition of Webster's Dictionary of the English Language published in 1806, marriage was defined as "the act of joining man and woman..." although this failed to recognize other types of marriages, such as
Polygyny,
Polyandry, etc
[8]
By 2009, all major English language dictionaries dropped gender specifications, or supplemented them with secondary definitions to include gender-neutral language or same-sex unions.[9][10][11]
good for you being on the school committee,if everyone would volenteer a few minutes of time ,imagine what WE can do
