Although the general focus of this website is the life of an American living abroad, occasionally events in my native land are so compelling that they simply demand comment. As anybody who has read a newspaper recently must surely know, an event of remarkable significance is currently taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, and I would be remiss in my duty as a citizen if I did not comment on it.
I am referring, of course, to the fact that a recent graduate of MIT is getting ready to enter the Miss America competition.

I’ve already gone on at some length about my thoughts on gay marriage, but this week, as thousands of gay men and women in Massachusetts are finally getting the chance to wed, there’s one more thought I wanted to add. This debate–more than any other major political debate I can think of–is being argued in metaphorical terms. Is opposition to gay marriage as bigoted as opposition to interracial marriage? Or is it based on simple biological reality, like the opposition to incest?
Personally, I have no doubt that, in a few decades, anti-gay-marriage laws will seem as inexplicable as anti-miscegenation laws do now. But I don’t want to have to wait a few decades to prove it. I’ve therefore developed a short quiz. I’ve taken some quotes from people who believe blacks shouldn’t marry whites, and some quotes from people who believe gays shouldn’t marry each other. I then stripped the quotes of any words like “race” or “gender” that would give the game away.
Can you tell which anti-marriage argument is which?
When you’re ready to start, click here to take the quiz.

Imagine for a moment that you got the following e-mail:
“Gallop has just released a poll showing that 10% of Americans have anti-Semitic feelings. This is horrible news, but if we can get 50,000 signatures on a petition, I bet Gallop will revise the number down to 5%. Please sign my web petition!”

Although he has never met me, President Bush is deeply concerned about my marriage.
He is particularly concerned about the threat posed to it by one Julie Goodridge, who manages a $50 million socially responsible investment fund. Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Supreme Court affirmed Ms. Goodridge’s right to marry her partner of nearly a decade, Hillary, who is a program director of a charity that gives away nearly $1 million every year.