Wedding shots deepen gay-marriage divide

As images of gay couples exchanging heartfelt vows flicker across TV screens nationwide, the cultural debate on one of today's most divisive issues has grown as clangorous as wedding bells, as contentious as a nasty divorce. With coverage from Massachusetts to San Francisco, where thousands have lined up for marriage licenses, an abstract issue suddenly has a human face - thousands of them.

Some say all the talk of "gay marriage" has made the term less dissonant, scattering it through the public consciousness so that it grows familiar, if not popular. San Francisco's move has sparked spontaneous support from far-flung places - Australians sending flowers to couples at City Hall; a Minnesota church mailing cards; a message from Atlanta reading "Straight, but not narrow-minded."

But the omnipresent public displays have also spurred a backlash. Many conservative activists are convinced that gay marriage writ large is a graphic reminder to those on the fence of what could be just around the corner at their own city halls.

Jesse Kenney says the images work both ways. Watching people get married cultivates the notion that gay couples are regular people, explains the South Boston construction worker. "But when it's done in a brash way and gets flaunted, that sways me. I don't like it."

Among his fellow construction workers, he continues, "a lot of guys don't like it. If some guys are hanging out and watching a couple of guys on TV getting married, a couple of jokes get made" - and those who are "a little homophobic ... tend to get defensive."

Tolerance of gays and lesbians, even civil unions, has unquestionably grown fast in recent years: 45 percent of Americans now support civil unions, according an ABC News/Washington Post poll. But often, it's tempered by caveats like Mr. Kenney's: "As long as they don't flaunt it," say many, or "what people do - in private - is their own business."

Even within the gay-rights movement, there's no consensus that wedding fever is a good thing, particularly San Francisco's civil-disobedience approach. Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts, one of three openly gay members of Congress, has suggested San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may be undermining Massachusetts' more deliberate legal approach. California Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), a vocal supporter of gay rights, has also said she disagrees with the mayor.

"I'm somewhat uncomfortable with what's going on in San Francisco," says Joseph Kociubes, president of the Boston Bar Association, who filed an amicus brief to the Massachusetts court supporting gay marriage. "Ultimately, I think it's not a municipal decision, but a statewide decision. But having said that, the part that intrigues me is that it could serve to bring the issue to a head more quickly."

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