Out of the melting pot and into the fire

Dear Internets,

Shannon (aka Doahleigh) has an interesting post up on her wedding website right now. She and her fiance asking for suggestions for how they can show support for marriage equality at their wedding without offending people or getting too preachy. I'm interested in hearing what the Internets has to say.

Family issues can be really tricky at weddings for a lot of people. My mom's family is very conservative, and I have one aunt in particular who likes to pick political arguments with my mom (the odd duck who went to college and became liberal*).

*Anywhere other than Texas, my mom's political views would be fairly middle-of-the-road.

I really doubt that anyone will start fights about politics at the wedding (it is, after all, still the South, where politeness rules with an iron fist), but it is one of those things that I could give myself anxiety about if I thought about it too much. In the worst case scenario that my imagination always seems to gravitate toward, I have to intervene when a family member makes a racist/sexist/homophobic/religiously-intolerant remark, and that is what everyone remembers about the wedding.

I am sure nothing like that will happen. It is interesting, though, to think about the fine line you potentially have to walk when you bring a diverse group of people together to celebrate a wedding.

In reality, weddings are probably good for people; with all the celebration of love and family, people probably forget for a minute that the person next to them is the "They" they heard demonized last week on talk radio. Maybe my wedding will open peoples' minds without me doing or saying anything at all.

Then again, maybe a brawl will break out and I'll become a famous crying bride on YouTube. You never know.

Love always,
Jane