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Loading ...Gay marriage gets recognition – in the dictionary
03.19.2009 9:08am EDT
(San Francisco, California) Same-sex marriage might not be recognized in most states, but it is in the dictionary.
Merriam-Webster included a secondary definition of marriage to recognize same-sex relationships several years before gay couples were allowed to tie the knot anywhere in the United States, but the change had gone largely unnoticed until the conservative World Net Daily news site reported it Tuesday.“One of the nation’s most prominent dictionary companies has resolved the argument over whether the term ‘marriage’ should apply to same-sex duos or be reserved for the institution that has held families together for millennia: by simply writing a new definition,” World Net wrote in an online story published Tuesday.
In its Web and print editions, Merriam-Webster defines marriage as “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.”
But in a nod to evolving ideas of love and English usage, the Springfield, Mass.-based company in 2003 added a secondary meaning for “marriage” as “the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage.”
Merriam-Webster said in a statement Wednesday that the edited entry merely reflected the frequency with which the term “same-sex marriage” had popped up in print and become part of the general lexicon.
“Its inclusion was a simple matter of providing dictionary users with accurate information about all of the word’s current uses,” the company said, adding that it was surprised by the recent attention because it was “neither news nor unusual.”
“We were one of the last ones among the major dictionary publishers to do this,” said Merriam-Webster spokesman Arthur Bicknell.
Boston-based Houghton-Mifflin, publisher of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, modified its definition of marriage in 2000, adding a fourth example to the entry: “A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage: a same-sex marriage.”
The Oxford English Dictionary this month added in a draft version that the term sometimes refers to “long-term relationships between partners of the same sex.” Its editors also have proposed updating the primary sense of the word to mean “the condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between persons married to each other; matrimony.”
The dictionary’s main entry for marriage, last updated in 1989, reads, “The condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between married persons; spousehood, wedlock.”
Only two states in the country legally recognize gay marriage: Connecticut and Massachusetts.
There is no such thing as same sex marriage. There is only marriage. Why are we letting Homo-Haters define our relationships? As long as the union of two same sex people is defined in religous terms we will fail at getting the CIVIL right of marriage granted us.
so is it under the word MARRIAGE like this:
1. the social institution under which two people establish their decision to live as husband and wife, husband and husband, or wife and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.
Or do we only get “same sex marriage”?
While only two US states will register same-sex marriages, I believe New York and maybe New Mexico and Rhode Island too will recognize same-sex marriages registered elsewhere. Do I have wrong information?
why do I often feel ashamed for being gay? I am a 50 year old white male who makes a 6 figure salary and the illegal immigrant kid in my state has more pride than me. The kid who does my lawn has more rights than I do and yet I employ him.
There is a difference in having Pride and being active.
You make six figures in a community that has everything against it from our parents in many cases to our employers. You are are a success and you should feel every once of pride as a gay person that you made it where you are. Most will not.
But you are right, we need to get motivated. We need to act like our lives are on the line. But the symbol of our downfall is the Pride Parades themselves. They are an embarrassment to our political past. And they don’t get the message across.
If you keep screaming and nobody hears you then you need to change your delivery.
So, keep being strong and never think that as a gay man that I don’t have pride in you.
@stephen. “I am a 50 year old white male who makes a 6 figure salary” 1. I guess your six figures cant buy you rights and pride. 2. what does your race have to do with it. 3.I am glad that the guy who does your lawn has pride in him. He is a human being too. illegal or not. 4. Read your own post. You sound racist, but the again, you are an old white male, go figure. I’m glad you are ashamed of yourself.
Stephen… don’t be ashamed… make that kid that mows your lawn gay. That’s the only answer. Everyone has to be gay now. It’s still trendy, no? Don’t let anyone hate because you are white and gainfully employed, why should the breeders get all the dinero?
@Frankly Said “But the symbol of our downfall is the Pride Parades themselves. They are an embarrassment to our political past. And they don’t get the message across.”
I could NOT agree with you more. Our parades turned from a march for freedom to an embarrassing mockery BY our community. It is hard to blame the religious right wings from wanting their children kept away from that… I would too!
@Amber & Frankly: Seriously- you are blaming our Pride parades for bigotry and hatred? No wonder we don’t advance as a minority. When the religious right can so easily confuse people like you into self loathing and self hate. There is nothing wrong with the diversity of Gay Pride and all the sub-cultures that we see. It is a celebration and if becoming mainstream to you means abandoning those parts, not only of our history and our culture, then I don’t want to be mainstream. My husband and I have two daughters who go with us to the parade every year and LOVE it. They love. In all honesty, I wish the parades were more like they use to be; more in your face; more this is part of who we are; more f*ck you if you can’t accept human sexuality in all its forms. We need less puritanical, bible-thumping, “oh…look at those bears in drag”…its the end of civilization and MORE dykes on bikes, leathermen in thongs, twinks on skates, politicians, PFLAG, and everything else that makes up our parades…and with NO APOLOGIES!!!!
What are you all talking about?!? Maybe 365 should create a “General Rant and Mudslinging” comment section.
Anyway, about the definition of marriage… It’s two people who have deliberately decided to be interdependent and committed to each others’ welfare.
HUH? Amber & Frank…..Maybe the Parades could be slightly toned down…but you know what? Even If every Gay/lesbian person marched “appropriately” so to speak…women in low heels,bobby socks and up-do’s…while the gay men marched with suits/ties/dress pants…all carrying signs with ONLY (the NEW Dictionary’s meaning of the word Marriage) It would NEVER satisfy these Religious Right wing freaks…THEY HATE US/They HATE OUR SEX/they hate everything we stand for….so SINKING to thier level won’t work either.
Incorrect: Only two states in the country legally recognize gay marriage: Connecticut and Massachusetts.
WRONG: New Mexico recognizes foreign same-sex marriages and New York (even though it doesn’t perform them) legally recognizes same-sex marriages from abroad and domestically.
—There is a difference between “recognizing” and legally allowing these contractual arrangments to be performed in the state. Either way, they are legal in the states which recognize them.
The marches aren’t that bad.But sure some find it bad, because it doesn’t directly show in apperance and stateing the message acoss a way some find direct.As to some say to also.Haveing fun w ith them is good.Is why some like them.Some will hate them for that.IMO some of them loos a point that is trying being made.Or have no point really and just a flauntive statement.Like many of those tackless nude strong men.That seem to draw in the straight women………..
Humm why not have a guy and girl be in a made costume showing the dictionary, by the compant stateing to the definition eh.
Jayzus, Stephen, you packed internalized homophobia, internalized agism, racism, classism, rankism, xenophobia, illegal immigrant paranoia and downright sourness in 5 lines about the dictionary changing the definition of marriage
I am tempted to say “impressive!” and “wtf?”
Please lighten up and examine your issues.
STEPHEN. Oh… poor old man…. you are rich and white and without rights? you have no pride? ohhhhhhhh. The illegal immigrant has more pride? ohhhhhhh. poor PAPI. sucks to be gay, doesn’t it?