I love Susan. She makes a really good point about the need to separate civil marriage from religious marriage. The gist (for those of you who won't follow the link and read it, though you should; it's not very long) is that we already do that. Not only do we already do it, but if those of us "who favor of gay marriage keep framing the debate in terms of how we need to change what marriage means, we're going to be fighting from a defensive position".

Exactly. Not that I could have articulated it so clearly myself. Me, I get all het up and emotional and use lots of hand gestures and hope I'm making sense when I'm stirred up about something. Susan, even when she's passionate, always seems to be clear and to the heart of the matter. I really admire smart people who can speak so that everyone can understand them. That's a huge gift. I'm lucky to have so many friends like Susan who have this talent.