This time, I got a note from the bus driver explaining why I was late. I felt like such a grade schooler. Ugh. Got into a long discussion with Page regarding same-sex marriage. Whenever engaging in such a discussion, I approach it the following manner:

Determine if you're a bigot. This is the most fundamental but yet least favorite question ask. If someone merely is anti-homosexual and feels that all gays and lesbians should be stricken from the earth, there's really not much more cause for a debate regarding the merits of marriage.

Determine why marriage should be reserved for heterosexuals. I usually cite the fact that the nuclear family is an arbitrary metric in how one decides to measure society, and a faulty one at that. We don't all have to get married in order for society to function. The citation of pro-creation is often used in opposition, that the reason why a nuclear family is used as that metric is because it preserves the species. I then ask if basketball should not be allowed, since basketball also does not preserve the species. The quiet undertone here is that homosexuality, while not advancing the species, affords its participants a certain pleasure, irrespective of humanity's long term outcome.

Determine if equal civil unions are acceptable. This is important also because it approaches the club sandwich issue in a fair manner. Opposition usually counters with the notion of "if it's tax benefits they want, they can have them." I bring up the fact that the General Accounting Office found over a thousand instances of special clauses reserved for married people or spouses of an individual.

Often times, people want to preserve heterosexual tradition. No, I'm not big on tradition, but I will agree that you can preserve whatever portions of the past you feel fit for your family. However, you can't impose your opinion of tradition onto someone else.

Ultimately, I found that Page's concerns arose primarily in his fears that his offspring won't carry on his family's traditions. I decided not to explore the idea of how someone else's marriage is supposed to affect his or his childrens', but in the end, he accepted and equal civil union which, I fear, is the best that we can do given the current mindset here in America.