Sappho Speaks: “Marriage” Is A Word That Belongs To Everyone

What Would Sappho Say?

Lectori Salutem! or L.S. (Greetings to the Reader!)

It appears in The Real History Of Marriage: Part One there is one fact I missed that a Catholic Conservative pointed out to me in the comments section and that was just how generous in spirit some can be in allowing us to have our civil unions but not the term marriage itself. That term is reserved only for those who believe in Christ and the sacrament of marriage.

Oh no wait, she went so far as to say straight people who did not marry in a church should not be allowed to use the term marriage either, so gay people should feel a little better, this wasn’t blatant discrimination. Somehow I doubted she cared about civil unions among heterosexuals before gay people wanted to get married!!! The HYPOCRISY was coming out in every word!


My first thought was to cry out in pain that this anonymous person had gotten absolutely nothing from my hard work and detailed research on the term “MARRIAGE” that showed the word was spawned well before the church ever existed as a pagan ritual or Roman civil union between man and woman. The Catholic Church stole the concept and then argued over whether or not it was one the Holy Sacraments for almost 1,000 years until the Council of Trent in 1523 which decided exactly what the church would put out as true and holy and required as Canon Law.

Now, this reader goes to great length to make sure it is understood that she has no issue with homosexuals as a people (the full text of the comments are at the end of The Real History Of Marriage: Part One and repeats most of what I am saying here) – we are great parents because we put thought into the decision unlike some of our heterosexual counterparts and we can love each other with all our hearts and all the rights afforded straights as this person thinks New York affords gays all those rights already via civil unions. It is so easy to miss the big picture when you don’t walk a mile...

State’s rights are a great start. They are a barometer the measure of public opinion and make some benefits available to a certain class of people – those who work for the state. It helps in other ways as well with state taxes and hospital visitation, etc., but what about federal rights? Social Security benefits, retirement benefits if I work for a federal agency, the IRS? Did she just forget about the big issue of rights and what if gay people travel outside of New York and get in an accident and their partner cannot make decisions for them because they are in a state that doesn’t recognize civil unions? She just does not get it! Single state rights will never be enough.

Not everything is as it seems. Now let’s look at your final point and most heinous remarks, the ones I mentioned earlier as quoted here, “...I just have the issue of the word Marriage as its a Sacrament... for that matter I have issue with hetero's who have civil union and call it Marriage.” Now, as I said, the Catholics didn’t invent the word but that is not enough of an argument because the Catholics were the first to turn it into a holy sacrament. The problem is... the Catholics and the Orthodox Christians are the only two religions that believe in Christ and also believe marriage is a holy sacrament. Here’s why:

Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, saw the seven Holy Sacraments (Baptism; Confirmation; Eucharist; Penance and Reconciliation – Confession; Holy Orders – man becomes Priest, Bishop, Deacon; Anointing the sick; Marriage) the Catholics finally agreed upon after the Council of Trent. He believed in order for something to be a sacrament it had to apply to all Christians, not just a sub-set of the religion as with the Holy Orders sacrament of the Catholic Church. After much consideration he had narrowed it down to three with marriage still under consideration until he realized that not all people had to get married according to Jesus. Jesus himself wasn’t married. Luther himself knew men and women who led productive lives, working and worshipping but not finding that match for life.

In conclusion, the two holy sacraments of all other Christian churches are baptism and the Eucharist (Christian ceremony commemorating the Last Supper). So, since so many of us do not believe in the “sanctity” of MARRIAGE as defined by the Catholic Church, that’s a lot of people to be upset with over a word that this Conservative Catholic had decided was only theirs and one other religion’s to call on at the end of the day.

Why go to such lengths to try and defend our right to the word against one person’s opinion? It is not against one person and she has the right to believe what she wants up in the privacy of her own home but to enforce that opinion to the point where it infringes upon my right to freedom of religion and equal rights to all is wrong and exactly what the religious right has been doing to our cause.

She agrees we deserve equal rights under the law and I applaud her for that but we differ on the definition of a word – one that meant what civil union is for longer than it was ever defined as a sacrament (in fact, no dictionary in the US ever defined marriage as a sacrament but something much broader and all encompassing). The very first Webster’s Dictionary defined marriage as the act of joining a woman and a man and the 2009 Webster’s under it’s 1st definition is split into a 1) and 2) as follows:
1a) 1) : the state of being united to person of the opposite sex as husband and wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law 2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage

And I think that about says it all!

Much Love.


Inspired by Sappho’s Muse.

MUSIC OF THE DAY
Well, I’m going to pick two videos off the Billboard’s top 20 this week but they are going to be olar opposites of each other. The first is the fabulously gay and wonderfully entertaining Adam Lambert with the aptly titled For Your Entertainment. The second is one of my favorite new singer/songwriters who blows me away with her heartfelt and depth at her young age. It’s of course Taylor Swift with Fifteen.

For Your Entertainment    Adam Lambert
Fifteen                            Taylor Swift

QUOTE OF THE DAY
Whenever the people are for gay marriage or medical marijuana or assisted suicide, suddenly the "will of the people" goes out the window.
Bill Maher