As for polygamy, that is seeking to create an entirely new legal structure rather than applying the same legal structure equally, across the board. Marriage should be an option available to any two human beings, period.

Jay Leno is fond of saying what does it hurt if two guys next door are gay and married? You’re in your house with your wife. They’re in their house. What they do doesn’t affect you. It’s no big deal. They’re not hurting anything. That’s what he says.

Perhaps in the short term that true. But to me it’s like saying what harm is it if I smoke one cigarette? No, one cigarette won’t cause cancer. But 20 years of it sure will. I’m not comparing gay people to cigarettes. I’m saying that sometimes a behavior is not harmful at first but it progressively becomes harmful over time.

I think that over the course of 20 years or so gay marriage will be harmful to society. I theorize (actually I hypothesize) that as a new generation grows up with gay marriage that it will reduce the perceived value of marriage. We already have a divorce rate higher than 50% and I suspect that gay marriage will make this worse, not better.

I’m not saying that all the gay people will get divorced and it will drive up the stats. What I’m saying is that as a new generation of young people comes of age they will see marriage as less valuable. It will be like “yeah, anybody can get married, even gay people.”

We all know, and it’s well documented scientifically, that children are devastated by divorce. It hurts kids as much or more than the adults. So, I contend that anything that leads to a higher divorce rate is bad.

All I’ve ever asked of any my gay friends is that they not impose it on me. If you want to be gay, then be gay. No problem. I can even be convinced that civil unions with health care benefit rights and such is okay.

But gay marriage? That’s a much tougher pill to swallow.

And then there will the polygamists. They’ll say “you had to admit you were wrong when you started allowing gay marriage.” They’ll say, “you give homosexuals their civil right but you won’t honor ours.” They’ll say, “it discriminatory. Even gays can get married but what about us?” They’ll say it’s a matter of civil rights and religious freedom.

And if you’re response is “Oooo, that’s gross. We would never allow that,” then I would remind you that only 20 years ago it was acceptable to say something similar about homosexuals.

And then there will be the 50 year old guys who want to marry 12 year old girls. And they’ll says it’s part of their religion & such.

So in the long term I think gay marriage will be harmful. I think it will degrade the value of marriage which has already lost its sanctity. I can’t prove any of this. And only time will tell. But that’s my hypothesis. We’ll see.