It has been my belief for a long time that the most important aspect taught by any religion is that of compassion, not the compassion or love that is based upon attachment and which is partial and biased, but the genuine compassion that is based upon the rationale that just as I do, others also have an innate desire to be happy and overcome suffering, and just as I do, they have the natural right to fulfill this fundamental aspiration

. The following statement was written by Tom Ackerman.

His thoughts on this matter reflect my own, I am a heterosexual male, and my wife and I have been married close to 18 years.

I no longer recognize marriage. Its a new thing Im trying.

Turns out its fun.

Yesterday I called a womans spouse her boyfriend.

She says, correcting me, Hes my husband,

Oh, I say, I no longer recognize marriage.

The impact is obvious.

I tried it on a man who has been in a relationship for years,

Hows your longtime companion, Jill?

Shes my wife!

Yeah, well, my beliefs dont recognize marriage.

Fun. And instant, eyebrow-raising recognition. Suddenly the majority gets to feel what the minority feels. In a moment they feel what its like to have their relationship downgraded, and to have a much taken-for-granted right called into question because of anothers beliefs.

Just replace the words husband, wife, spouse, or fiancé with boyfriend, girlfriend, special friend, or longtime companion. There is a reason we needed stronger words for more serious relationships. We know it; now they can see it.

A marriage is a lot of things. Culturally, its a declaration to the community that two people are now a unit, and that unity should be respected. Legally, its a set of rights and responsibilities. And spiritually, its whatever your beliefs think it is. Thats whats so great about America. As a constitutionally secular nation, or at least20in reality a vaguely pluralistic nation, we can all have our own spiritual take on what marriage is. Whats troublesome is when one groups spiritual beliefs deny the cultural and legal rights of another.

But, back to the point. They say their beliefs dont recognize my marriage, I say my beliefs dont recognize theirs. Simple. It may seem petty, and obviously the legal part of the cultural/legal/spiritual trilogy is flip-floppy, but it may be the cultural part that really matters.

People get married to be recognized as a permanent couple. To be acknowledged by friends, family, and strangers as being off the market, in a relationship, totally hooked up, yikes... its impossible to say without saying married.

We wear rings to declare this!

So, we can take this away. We can refuse to recognize marriage in the cultural sense. It is totally within our rights, as Americans, to follow our beliefs and recognize or not recognize what we like.

I guess this is a call out to all Americans with beliefs similar to mine.

If you believe that all people should have equal rights, and if you believe that marriage is one of the greatest destinations of a relationship, then perhaps you believe that nobody should have marriage, until everybody does.

Thats what I believe.

Peace to everyone.