ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the theme of same-sex marriages as an example of something new quickly becoming normative. It focuses on the right of queer folk to celebrate our love, friendship, and commitment as we see fit, as well as the need to foster variety for all of our survival at a time of right-wing backlash. John Boswell established the basis for, if not the definitive proof of, the existence of some ceremonies in premodern Europe, which lifted same-sex love to public expression. Heterosexual people with their 50 percent divorce rate have discovered that longer life spans have made “forever” a relative term. Life is too complicated for easy solutions like same-sex marriage as the new panacea, and we are too varied to make it the new norm. Even more convincing to some religious people is the sacramental grace of marriage.
