Be aware of celebrations

There was a brilliant, unsentimental discussion of the reasons to support same sex marriage published after its passage by the Washington State Legislature, and prior the defeat of an initiative that sought to repeal it Two Cheers for Gay Marriage:

The debate about same-sex marriage, on both sides, misses the main point: marriage is not about "love" or "sex".  It is about the creation and accounting of economic units which can accumulate property (which historically includes children), and the maintenance of kinship organization (which is also about property).

Societies and the state need to track such units so as a resolve problems of ownership.  Marriage law, even and especially religious marriage law ,is dominantly about property -- who has access to it, how it is inherited, how it can be separated.  That is, it is contractual.  Definitions of marriage, and its legal status, have always reflected this, for example the reason that monogamous marriage is the norm in west, and now the world, that it simplifies property issues. 

Gay individuals are forming kinship units, accumulating property, having offspring in significant numbers.

It is in the interest of the the state and society that such units be allowed to be regularized, as it would  to facilitate the management of property, assign responsibility the care of children, and clarify kinship relations (for example next of kin in medical cases).

This argument is secular, and does not appeal to abstract values -- so it is not, shall we say attractive.

I still contend, that it is the strongest argument to use, however, with those who will oppose the change.

And the opposition will continue, it is too juicy to be ignored by those whose real agenda lie in economic privilege and political control.  The strategy to rally the base and suppress others will continue.

The sympathetic long term lover stories that could perhaps counter sway will not be in the media in 2016.

Similarly, the ruling on health care faces the same possible negative result.  Though I believe it to be the correct result -- for formal legal and judicial argument reasoning -- it is just as likely to be a God send to those same forces. 

Again, stories about health care disasters won't be in the media in 2016.

For a similar reason, the killings and Confederate Flag debate now provide similar breathing space for reactionary forces.

There is no plan to counter this inevitable reaction.  I predict it will win.