Moving the middle on marriage

Lanae Erickson and Jon Cowan writing at Politico: “First, advocates must reframe the conversation . . . Marriage is about lifetime commitment, responsibilities and obligations. If we can persuade people in the middle that gay couples want to get married for those reasons — not simply to gain a list of legal rights and benefits — we’ll connect with them in a far deeper way . . . In their ads, opponents of same-sex marriage tapped into fears about children, triggering concerns about what allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry would mean for kids. If we’re going to move the middle, we need to figure out how to quell these fears, rather than ignoring or dismissing them . . . Third, we need to continue to make progress along the spectrum of relationship recognition, from domestic partnerships to civil unions to marriage.”