The National Organization For Marriage is all kinds of happy about a new billboard campaign in Putnam County, Tennessee, which makes a wholly religious case for marriage limitation:
Billboards in Putnam County, Tenn., promote biblical view of marriage between man and woman [NOM]
(H/t: J.M.G.)
Fair enough. If these young folks care to couple their civil marriage license with the ancillary (even if oft-utilized) component of religious ceremony, then good for them. And if they care to put that personal choice on a billboard next to signs reading “Waffle House Next Exit,” then more power to them (and I’ll have an order of scattered, smothered, and covered hashbrowns, please).
We all have a right to state our roadside beliefs. But no gay activist or organization or lawyer — NO. GAY. ACTIVIST. OR. ORGANIZATION. OR. LAWYER. — is seeking to change anyone’s religious view on marriage! The fight is 100% about *CIVIL* marriage, with the religious decisions left to the individual churches and denominations — just as these decisions are left to churches now when it comes to interfaith weddings, atheist weddings, weddings where pre-martial sex is evident, etc. So if the point of this billboard is to combat the organized push for marriage equality in this country, then it’s about as on-topic as the aforementioned Waffle House sign.
Or actually, come to think of it, the Waffle House sign may even be a little more pertinent. After all, that chain will gladly accommodate one’s union of two eggs or two sausages, regardless of personal faith views — a fitting metaphor for civil society’s own plate.
