North Dakota's Most Populous Counties Have Issued Just Six Gay Marriage Licenses

According to this report in the Fargo Forum, North Dakota’s five most populated counties have issued a grand total of six licenses to gay marriages since the Supreme Court ruling striking down our state’s ban on the same.

That’s a tiny number, and there are a few points to be made about it.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#000000″ txt_color=”#ffffff”]The imagined doom coming from social conservatives addled with angst over gays marrying doesn’t exactly square with the real-world impacts.[/mks_pullquote]

For one, it illustrates just how inevitable legalized gay marriage was. It’s worth remembering that at the time SCOTUS ruled 37 states had already legalized same sex marriage, and a lot of homosexual couples intent on marriage had already traveled to those states to get married.

For another, I’m glad there wasn’t a rush by a lot of gays to be married. I am very happy that they now have the opportunity to find the sort of happiness and bliss I have in my marriage, but as I wrote in my most recent newspaper column (once place you can find it is the Walsh County Record) marriage is hard. The commitment is long. No matter who it is getting married, the bond should be entered into only by those who are serious about it and only then after long consideration.

Finally, I think the small number of marriages puts some of the histrionics from social conservatives about gay marriage into perspective. How much is legalized gay marriage going to change our society, really? The imagined doom coming from social conservatives addled with angst over gays marrying doesn’t exactly square with the real-world impacts.