I was driving home from Boston the other day, reflecting that if I got hit by the semi in the next lane, at least I had a legal spouse who would be able to visit me in the hospital. I began then to ponder the advances in same-sex relationship recognition over the last several weeks. New Hampshire, Massachusetts’ northern neighbor, will institute same-sex civil unions with all the rights of marriage but the name. Washington will offer domestic partnerships with a limited number of medical and inheritance rights. Its neighbor, Oregon, will also begin domestic partnerships, but with all the rights of marriage, identical to a New Hampshire civil union or a Massachusetts marriage (except, again, in name).
As I negotiated the spaghetti-like interchange between Route 93 and the Mass Pike, it suddenly struck me—not the semi—but rather the parallel between Boston’s road system and same-sex relationship recognition:
- Both are a morass of interconnected and sometimes conflicting rights (-of-way).
- Both are, however, better than they used to be, after their architects burned through outrageous amounts of money.
- There’s always some idiot in the next lane flipping you off.
- Both are easier to navigate when there are friends along for the ride.
More from the Department of Strained Analogies in another post.