I've written a show that's been accepted into the Fringe Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland this August

Kudos to you Tom, man you are having a banner year! 

What a really cool place to have the official honeymoon!!! Am I seeing Kilts in your near future? You guys would look pretty hot in Kilts.

Congratulations to you both, Tom. I must echo (or paraphrase) JB's sentiments; it's hard to fathom two people who love each other actually threatening marriage, which in this country is technically a losing proposition anyway. Something they interstingly pointed out during my wedding some 18 years ago. (Was that a hint?)

here's the one thing I don't quite understand, probably because I'm dense as concrete: what is the difference between a 'marriage' and a 'civil union?' In my mind my marriage was taking vows in front of a priest. A civil union was the legal document we signed afterward that the county kept. Is that close?

Anyway, again, all the best to you both.

As to my avatar - yes, I am the master of rock and earth. Puny worms.

The modern institution of marriage IS a civil union.  Going before the priest/preacher/rabbi is optional, but you've got to have your blood test and marriage certificate if you wanna check that box on your IRS form (as well as be able to pull/not pull the plug on your comatose loved one).  Gay people and their allies want nothing more than the same benefits conferred upon gay couples as upon straight ones.

Opponents want to either deny all the benefits of marriage, or the more faux magnaminous want to cling (bitterly?) to semantics, allowing the same benefits but insisting that it's not a marriage, it's (ONLY, they all but shout) a civil union.  As if they still have something more, because they're married, you're merely civil unionized.

Horseshit.

Big Trouble in Little China is a marriage between screwball comedy and wuxia action movies.  There.  I've destroyed marriage by using it to describe something other than a peener and a vajayjay.

Try it; it's fun!

as well as be able to pull/not pull the plug on your comatose loved one

And that's really all we want: the ability to pull the plug on each other.

Seriously, there isn't much difference between the two.  One is presided over by a representative of religion, the other is not.  Further confusing the issue is the idea of the Domestic Partnership, which pretty much transfers all the business rights, but none of the love.  DC recognizes domestic partnerships, which basically means we can buy a house together, we can be covered on each other's insurance, we can manage our loved one's sickness and death, but we don't get the tax benefits -- everything but the love. 

It's seperate, but not equal.  There's a benefit -- a REWARD -- for being straight.  There's nothing but second-class disdain for being gay. 

Am I seeing Kilts in your near future? You guys would look pretty hot in Kilts

Um... not with my knobby knees.  That's the biggest reason I haven't entered a bodybuilding competition.  Not trying to insult the Scottish here, but the whole kilt-thing kind of mystifies me.  If I want to be comfortable, I just go commando.

Congratulations! I'll also be using my California vote to stop any marriage amendment.

Thank you, California board members!  I can't believe that I've found an issue that Arnold and I agree upon that's NOT somehow related to Pumping Iron -- wait a minute... maybe it IS...

I've destroyed marriage by using it to describe something other than a peener and a vajayjay.

The latest semantic argument goes like this: Marriage is an arrangement between a mother and a father...

No... marriage is a deal to secure land rights within the tribe.  The bride (part of the property transfer) is almost the gift herself.