ABSTRACT
This chapter measures the intersection of social frameworks and standards of appraisal, as defined by Goffman, using letters to the editor reacting to a news article on a lesbian commitment ceremony. It predicts the language to resemble that used by prominent opponents and supporters of same-sex weddings, language that had been employed in public discourse on the national level for several years. The chapter considers that letter writers opposed to the article were more likely to use religious terminology than proponents, while proponents would be more likely to use civil or secular language. It suggest that neither side of the issue of same-sex marriage has proprietary rights to religious or secular terminology and a disconnection between a researcher's understanding of the religious vis a vis civil terms and that of the letter writers. That is, because religion and religiosity is so thoroughly inculcated in the social frameworks of the South.
