Whether your support her views or not (I do), Cynthia Nixon has some well turned phrases on the redefinition of marriage and of other rights that at one time were considered limited but which are now more broadly allowed. It’s not a redefinition, it’s an empowerment.

The clip is interesting, although we don’t have access to the rebuttal which is obviously coming. The entire program is a premium view.

Granted, Nixon is glossing over that the opponents to gay marriage claim that supporters are redefining the meaning of marriage not only in terms of access to a fundamental right but in terms of the presupposition that most folks have that marriage is a heterosexual union between a man and a woman. In order to grant marriage rights to gays and lesbians we do indeed have to discard that fundamental assumption which is inherently a redefinition of sorts . . . however, it is important to note that the presupposition that marriage must inherently be heterosexual is obviously not necessary for marriage to function and can be discarded without damaging the essence of marriage – long term stable unions recognized by the state.

The heterosexual function of marriage is there in part because of the original function of legal marriage to foster procreation and protection of property rights in inheritance. One chief criticism of gay marriage is that it no longer encourages procreation within a stable family nor does it carry an inheritance function. This criticism is no longer valid in that the number of heterosexual marriages that do NOT result in children (either by lower fertility in developed countries or by choice) has risen dramatically and even the assumption of long term stability relationships within marriage is no longer a valid presupposition given the rising divorce rate and the increase in second, third, or even more marriages (most developed nations now practice a form of polygamy characterized by serial monogamy rather than the one-spouse-forever model assumed by the far right when they champion other-sex marriage as the appropriate model and this has NOTHING to do with gays or polys or anyone else asking to be allowed into the discussion).

IMO.

– Brian