Good news, everyone! We here at The World fully recognise same-sex marriages. We oppose any discrimination in law between same-sex and different-sex marriages .
Indeed, unlike many who take those views, we go further. We also oppose any discrimination in law between married people and single people.
In other words, we think that the state should gradually phase out its relationship-validating and -invalidating business. If two (or more) people want solemnly to declare that they will never leave each other no matter how much they may later want to, that should be their right. If holy men and women set up in business to endorse or deprecate such declarations, that too is their right. But the state should not enforce such declarations (beyond what would be required by ordinary contract law) nor set up legal penalties or rewards for those who make them.
That President Bush should be expending time, energy and political capital on this issue in wartime would be reprehensible even if he were on the right side of it. It can wait. And we therefore say also to campaigners who are on the right side of the issue – such as Andrew Sullivan – remain calm; it can wait.
One more thing. Since we have recently made several criticisms of President Bush, perhaps it's worth stressing that we unequivocally endorse him in the forthcoming Presidential election, and not just because the other candidates are hopelessly bad. We agree with Condoleeza Rice that posterity will regard Bush as one of the great Presidents. We are just sad that he isn't greater.
