As usual, I rely on Merriam-Webster for the final say in the definition of a word.  Today’s word is MARRIAGE.  There has been much controversy about the subject of marriage, especially since a bunch of people stuck their big religious-tainted noses in other people’s business. 

So let’s see what the official definitioin of MARRIAGE is from none other than Merriam-Webster:

1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law

(2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage <same-sex marriage>

b: the mutual relation of married persons : wedlock

c: the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage

2: an act of marrying or the rite by which the married status is effected ; especially : the wedding ceremony and attendant festivities or formalities

3: an intimate or close union <the marriage of painting and poetry — J. T. Shawcross>

Hmmmmm….  Let’s use the word MARRIAGE in a sentence:

“Gay is the new black, say the protest signs and magazine covers, casting the gay marriage battle as the last frontier of equal rights for all.”

…

In a cover story for the Advocate magazine titled “Gay is the New Black,” Michael Joseph Gross wrote, “These past few years we’ve made so much progress that we’d begun to think everybody saw us as we see ourselves. Suddenly we were faced with the reality that a majority of voters don’t like us, don’t think we’re normal, don’t believe our lives and loves count as much or are worth as much as theirs.”

Read that whole article here.

To see a photo gallery of same sex weddings, click here.

And for a good read from the photographer, click here.