The two headlines below appeared in Memeorandum (May 23rd, 2012, at 10:23 AM).
On one side is the most basic right of all, control over your own self, over what can be done to your body. Without it, there’s no freedom, no rights, nothing. Without it, you could, for instance, be compelled to donate a lobe of your liver because somebody else would die without it.
On the other side is giving more people the legal benefits associated with marriage. That is a good thing. But it amounts to nothing in a world where anyone could be violated whenever it served someone’s purposes. Marriage would be worth as much as it was for black slaves in the old South.
So which one do people see as more worthy? Why, marriage equality, of course.
This is what happens after thirty years of hearing politicians say women have no rights compared to a fetus.
This is what happens after a few years of leaders and voters saying that marriage rights are for all, not just for some.