Britt Combs: Same sex marriage coming to your state soon

The tide is definitely in favor of gay marriage these days. Last week, New Hampshire legalized gay marriage, joining the rest of New England, excepting Rhode Island.

The battle in California has waged between the courts and voters, and last year's Proposition 8 made it clear the voters were opposed. But it is certainly not over. Virtually all celebrities, actors, musicians and talk show hosts are in favor of gay marriage, so it's only a matter of time.

It is well known to sociologists, as well as armchair observers of cultural phenomena like yours truly, that most Americans derive their sense of right and wrong almost exclusively from celebrity opinions, so this trend cannot be overlooked.

The issue provides endless entertainment value. The worry and concern some people invest defies logic. There are, it would seem, great hordes of folks out there with nothing better to do than worry about who is getting married to whom, and what they have in their respective britches.

There's a bumper sticker I like -- I'm sure you've seen it -- that reads, "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!"

It conjures up images they used to show on the TV news stories about AIDS, they'd show two guys in tight jeans and sweaty tank tops, walking down the street holding hands or shopping for curtains in trendy urban neighborhoods.

Of course, if that's all they were doing – holding hands and shopping for curtains – people would probably not worry about it so much, but there are dark rumors about what homosexuals get up to in their own private homes that send shivers down the spines of many and, no doubt, raise a few alarms about public health concerns.

But be that as it may, there are no enforceable sodomy bans in America, and for good or ill, the public health debate was decided in favor of individual liberty way back in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

At this point the question of whether homosexuality is a choice or not is pretty much moot. Even if it is a choice alone, with no genetic component, nearly everyone alive believes it is pre-determined, that people are "born gay."

Pass a ballot initiative against gay marriage, and the courts will just strike it down. A recent poll showed that North Carolina was slightly in favor of same-sex marriage. Yes, even North Carolina. That's a pretty clear indication that it's a done deal.

It seemed just a few short years ago like it was not even an issue. To hear the voices of the gay community on TV and in print, the whole idea of marriage was hopelessly square and old fashioned. "Breeders are boring," the slogan said. Or, "Monogamy is for people who can't get but one person to do it with them." The idea was that the radical urban gay community saw promiscuous sex as a revolutionary act, tearing down the walls of intolerance.

Now the rage is for the equal right to get married. But is that so horribly bad? Wasn't the main complaint voiced by conservatives about homosexuality the promiscuity? I remember a certain radio show on which the host said the average homosexual has 1,500 "sex partners" in his career, and that this presented a clear public health menace.

But if he gets married, won't that seriously curtail the promiscuity? I mean, from the public health vantage, gay marriage sounds like a solution.

Conservative activists say that gay marriage is the "slippery slope" and if we allow that, what's to stop three people, or 15 people from getting married? What's to stop someone from marrying his car or her cat?

It prompts the question, so what? If legally declaring a hive of bees your sweet darling till death do you part is what you like, then as Thomas Jefferson said, it neither robs my purse nor breaks my nose. Who cares?

If you really, really do want to stop same-sex marriage, I can think of one sure way to do it. Just demand a constitutional amendment requiring all homosexuals to get married. They'll be up in arms, demanding the right to stay footloose and fancy free. Cause, if you haven't noticed, my conservative friends, the liberals pretty much just do things to tweak you. By objecting to it, you're just egging them on.