American straight ladies no longer wish for a white wedding dress the way they did when we had Traditional Values, before they were born, because "living in sin" is the new normal for a nation without a Vengeful God. Now that nobody believes in religion, U.S. women are shacking up at record levels—in the popular 30-and-under demographic, 77% of American girls have "shared an address" with their dudes.

While straight people have all but given up on marriage, gay people have become the only moral examples in a nation that has utterly turned its back on both decency and responsibility.

But some experts say it's not just the [...]

What's the pope up to, this Christmas? Oh, just rallying the world's other intolerant religious leaders against the global menace of gay people registering at Macy's. Nothing says "Peace on Earth and good will towards men" like a yuletide jihad against same-sex marriage—because if there's anything the story of Christ's birth teaches us, it's to stigmatize and then attack people who lack legal and societal protections.

Pope Benedict on Friday signaled the Vatican was ready to forge alliances with other religions against gay marriage, saying the family was threatened "to its foundations" by attempts to change its "true structure."

The pope's latest denunciation of gay marriage came in [...]

So then, "Will and Grace" would be like the California roll?

I am told that Robin Roberts is likely to discuss same-sex marriage with President Obama today, who may clarify his position on the issue.

— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) May 9, 2012

So maybe, just maybe, your Christian boyfriend president is going to abandon his values and do an about-face on gay marriage, in the wake of yesterday's disgusting North Carolina marriage vote. Won't you be so happy then, true believers? This is a thing I will be happy to be wrong about. Guess we'll see! It's all between him and his God now.

"The gay car dealer who opened his home to Rudy Giuliani in 2001 during his humiliating divorce battle says the former mayor offered to preside at his wedding if same-sex marriage were ever legalized — but is now ducking his calls to make good on the offer."

Mating and dating in America's gayest city has been turned on its head. With one smooth twist of Andrew Cuomo's gloating pen, New York City's gays now find themselves in a whole different ballgame (as it were) of sexy-time outcomes. Now, like the ladies, the gays must think: am I marriage material? Am I marriage material if I put out on the first date? When and how do we get engaged? And how can we best torture our single friends with expensive destination weddings that require multiple-leg flights and pre-parties and annoying and eccentric gift registries? Long-time couples are in a similar ruckus—even those who've never wanted to get [...]

Gay couples in California should hurry up and get married, like, RIGHT NOW, as Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled the ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, has denied a motion to stay the judgment. Like, seriously, just go do it. [UPDATE: You'll have to wait until August 18th.] Because let's be honest, we've only got a few months left of equality and respect for human rights in this country and then we're all pretty much screwed. You might as well get some nice cookware out of it while you still can.

What the hell was that about, yesterday? Suddenly everybody (except your racist uncle in the Midwest) had changed their profile pictures and avatars to some little parallel lines symbol. It was as if millions of people tried to make a pink ribbon icon and failed, utterly, because they could not do the curve thing. But it was actually about the Supreme Court deciding who we can marry and then later divorce—the justices are not looking at the usual arguments against marriage such as "bad idea," "everybody else was doing it," "I want a baby" and "I was drunk that year." Instead, they are focusing only on the gender of the [...]

It is amazing that gay marriage has become mainstream—and recognized in nearly a dozen states—over such a brief period of time. But it is not that amazing when you consider the power of Witchcraft. According to a mathematician-blogger (and we all believe whatever they say now), the trend to acceptance of same-sex marriage started exactly when two young Wiccan ladies became a couple on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Once Willow and Tara were just a normal part of a California town overrun by demonic forces and trampires, all the "Millennials" suddenly realized (because of the magic spell broadcast on television) that is was just fine to be a [...]

Our friends at ego trip count Jay-Z's comments to CNN Monday as the fourth example of a notable rapper to have "publicly voiced some progressive opinion on the issue." (After Chuck D, El-P and Fat Joe.) But there have been more! 50 Cent, Eminem, Prodigy, ASAP Rocky and Lil B have, too. And N.O.R.E, who last year told XXL magazine, “If a gay person bothers you, that’s because they know something about you that you don’t know about yourself yet… Nobody should really care what happens in someone else’s bedroom… That’s their lifestyle. It doesn’t bother me. I live my lifestyle my way. It doesn’t bother me.”

Eric Berkowitz's new book Sex And Punishment, out today from Counterpoint, is a fascinating survey of how legal systems over the millenia have attempted to regulate and police sex. In this excerpt, a discussion of the once-wide acceptance of same-sex unions between men in Europe of the Middle Ages.

Despite the risks, devotional relationships between men were common in Europe at the time, at least among the literate, and many of these affairs must have included sex at some point. Knights, aristocrats, and especially clerics left expansive evidence of their intense passions for male lovers, relationships that often ended in side-by-side burials. A letter from a respected monk–scholar [...]

I feel like this is happening a lot right now.

America loves TV about polygamy. After four years of the scintillating fiction of "Big Love," we were ready for fact. Or, at least, the reality-TV version of it. TLC’s series "Sister Wives" finally arrived in 2010, and the second season has just begun, as "Big Love" concludes this weekend. Like an elephant with a friendly bird to eat flies off of its back, the two shows have formed a sort of symbiosis.

Fact and fiction intertwine: "Sister Wives" shows you the real-life versions of the characters. "Big Love" shows you what they might look like in bed. The excitement of "Big Love" relied on our faith in the [...]

An unlikely couple in California is writing the next chapter of the LGBT marriage movement. Clay M. Greene, 78, and his partner Harold Scull, deceased, are at the center of a legal battle gaining national attention. Two months ago Greene filed a civil action lawsuit against Sonoma County for placing him and his partner in separate nursing homes after Scull suffered injuries from a fall at the couple's home in April 2008. The County claims the decision, which resulted in the auctioning of Greene and Scull's possessions, as well as two homeless kitties, was in response to domestic violence charges against Greene reported by Scull during his [...]

"Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, a longtime opponent of same-sex marriage, said on Friday he now believes gays have a right to marry after learning two years ago that his son is gay." —If every elected Republican with gay family or staff makes Rob Portman's journey, the supposedly partisan issue of people getting fair access to the rights and financial advantages of marriage would go away pretty quickly, wouldn't it?

Closeted gay man terrified his wife will discover his secret: youtu.be/Oye4rhUa2Fk

— BarryDeutsch (@barrydeutsch) September 6, 2012

Or: Local President Takes Four Years In Office to Approve of Gay Marriage. (Aww, no, it's nice, I guess.)

Some people are confused!

• "Why doesn't Barack Obama just come out in support of gay marriage?" asks the Guardian. Uh, because he doesn't believe in it?

• "'The gay community was fully happy in their belief that he ‘wink, wink’ supported it,' a top Democratic communications strategist said," says Politico. Then they are fools?

• "Obama, who supports most gay rights, has stopped short of backing gay marriage. Without clarification, he's said for the past year and a half that his personal views on the matter are 'evolving,'" says AP.

Okay, all of this is totally weird election-year baloney. Whatever gays have talked themselves into [...]

From Awl pal Bex Schwartz, it's the Pop Up Chapel: "On Saturday, July 30th, the first weekend after same-sex marriage becomes legal, we will host New York City’s largest pop-up chapel at the beautiful Bethesda Fountain in Central Park (or a designated space, if interest outpaces capacity.) We provide the wedding! And the photographer! And the officiant! And witnesses! And cupcakes! And everything you’ve always dreamed of! A free and legal wedding, for anyone who wants to get married."

"President Obama has decided that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and has asked his Justice Department to stop defending it in court, the administration announced today."