If this video doesn’t make you cry you’re heartless. Still, there’s an unsettling aspect to it: We’re begging for our rights. When the couples say, “please don’t divorce us” it tugs at your heart but it’s also enraging. Who else has to beg to stay married? Are we going to stand in the corner of the street with signs that say, “Will work for marriage certificate?” Is Sally Struthers going to go on TV and say, “for only twelve cents a day you can keep two gays married.”
The undercurrent to the video—as much as we loved it, is that we’re cowering in the corner begging for mercy. Persuasion through pity may work, but we can’t help but think it diminishes us.