Why Marriage Equality is so important.

Since the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on same-sex marriage, there has been a firestorm of controversy over the decision. From the Religious Right's stance that "Marriage is between a man and a woman" to ten other states asking California to reverse their decision and wait until "The people can have their vote on this in November," it seems everyone has a point of view, and, once again, gay women and men are caught in the middle of a religious-themed political agenda.

What's funny about the "Marriage has always been between a man and a woman" statement is that during Medieval Europe, clergy regularly performed same-sex union ceremonies, which were almost identical to heterosexual weddings. The only difference was that the same-sex unions were considered for love, and most of the heterosexual unions were for the joining of two high-powered families.

The Roman soldiers Serge and Bacchus were joined in such a ceremony, and were later pronounced Christian military saints, as were the "paired" saints Perpetua and Felicitas. There's a whole book that concerns the acceptance and sanctification of homosexual relations written by John Boswell called Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe.

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