I'm sure the left will bring up the "separate but equal" argument in the coming Massachusetts legislative battle. It may come about that a public opinion change is in the offing. Right now, I would explain the current cognitive dissonance as a reaction to the "suddenness" of the MA court decision. People on the left and the right have been following this issue for years, people who would really rather not think about it have ignored it. It takes time to morph the pig into the horse, six months might be enough time, I'm sure the MA court had that in mind.
Thanks for the discussion! You're an intelligent, thoughtful person, and bantering back and forth with you reminds me of late night debates back at the UW.
Considering how I have been hearing that this is "in the offing" for nearly a year now, I can't call this ruling sudden. But you may be right. This might be the reaction of people who "haven't really thought about it before now" and "don't really want to think about it now."
But your comments to longtermmommy are right. Marriage should be more than legalized permission to have sex, but it is long since it has been more, and it is long since anyone even cared about legal permission to have sex. Those who "haven't thought about it before now" must just not think. This is no overnight event. We have made this bed, one board, one screw, and one nail at a time. Nobody should be surprised when somebody adds the sheets and asks us to sleep in it.
Shalom.