I'm sure you've heard of what's been happening in SanFrancisco over the valentines day weekend. So being that Myself has a personal interest in all of this, here's my 2¢ worth. Firstly I'm all for it, Marriage, civil union, call it whatever you want it's just a word. I am going to go around and say: Hi this my civil-union-partner. Cmon it going to be husband.nor will anyone, for that matter say: "hey didja hear Jon and Bob got a civil-union?" And I further don't care of any church recognizes it, Myself is more concerned what the civil/legal/financial benefits are. Words change before the 70's the word "party" was a noun and only a noun. Cocktail party, political party, party of five. What began as slang usage of the word party as a verb as in "let's party" eventually became so mainstream that it was incorprated as a regular definition. Think the word "byte" was in the dictionary in 1970? A computer science dictionary maybe, but Websters? no way. Dictionaries change to accomodate societal usage not the other way around. Marriage is just a word. Slippery slope? When there is a big enough advocacy for polygamy, incest, man on dog, as there is for gay marriage, then sure why not, but don't hold your breath. The only thing Myself is not so keen on is making this a key issue right here, right now, because equal rights is an inevitability the way things have progressed, in 10-15 years this would have been a non-issue, but today there is going to be a backlash that might not turn out so good. polls show that people under 30 overwhelmingly support gay marriage but those 50+ overwhelmingly oppose it. If we just wait it out we will eventually get there. But there are those who see this as an opportunity, don't want to wait or can't wait for whatever reason so the struggle is on. We have had to fight and struggle for every little bit of equality, tolerance and acceptance we have gained, this one is going to be the toughest.