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From: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.
mar·riage (mărĭj)
n.
1.
a. The legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife.
b. The state of being married; wedlock.
c. A common-law marriage.
d. A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage: a same-sex marriage.
'Nuff said.
Right-wing evangelical lexicographers didn't make it up. Homophobic black lexicographers in California didn't make it up.
There are other dictionaries which define marriage differently than just being a 'legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife.' Defining marriage as just being between one man and one woman is subjective.
What other dictionary did you prefer I cite? The gay one?
After all, this is an American issue, hence, the American Heritage dictionary.
Seems pretty static to me: man will be man, woman will be woman, the fundamental building block of society being the legally-recognized union between the two: marriage.
It's really that simple, no matter how many men and women try to bend the terms of the definition to suit their particular ideological needs.
What other dictionary did you prefer I cite? The gay one?
After all, this is an American issue, hence, the American Heritage dictionary.
Right...that's the only dictionary we honor at all in this country. That's the best you've got?
Quote:
Seems pretty static to me: man will be man, woman will be woman, the fundamental building block of society being the legally-recognized union between the two: marriage.
You're just saying whatever you like instead of responding. Language is not static. "Ain't" is in most dictionaries, I believe. "Anxious" was not always synonymous with "eager," but I haven't seen an up-to-date dictionary that doesn't list them as synonymous.
Quote:
It's really that simple, no matter how many men and women try to bend the terms of the definition to suit their particular ideological needs.
If we're talking about language, no, it's not that simple. Language is very complex. There are reasons why I shied away from linguistics classes as an undergraduate--a large one being that I think some of it can be very confusing and difficult.
There are other dictionaries which define marriage differently than just being a 'legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife.' Defining marriage as just being between one man and one woman is subjective.
Another definition from the American Heritage:
civil union
n.
A legal union of a same-sex couple, sanctioned by a civil authority.
And from your dictionary:
civ·il un·ion (plural civ·il un·ions)
noun Definition: affirmation of same-sex partnership: a ceremony celebrating the affirmation of a partnership shared by a same-sex couple or a couple who choose not to marry
Of course that's not enough. It's not even a legal dictionary. Please. If we were fifth graders, that might be an appropriate way to debate.
You're missing the point. Take all the moral and religious angles out of it, and here you have a singular definition, tried and true, decade after decade, that serves a fundamental purpose in American society. On what basis would such a radical and permanent alteration of this definition be warranted? That's all I want to know.
But if you must, here's the legal definition from dictionary.law.com, in case you were curious:
marriage
n. the joining of a male and female in matrimony by a person qualified by law to perform the ceremony (a minister, priest, judge, justice of the peace or some similar official), after having obtained a valid marriage license (which requires a blood test for venereal disease in about a third of the states and a waiting period from one to five days in several).
Etymology is the study of the history of words — when they entered a language, from what source, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.
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That's the best you've got? 
