"History will snort at the moral and intellectual flabbiness of Obama's conversion to the civil unions yes, gay marriage no position, which I believe to be calculated and purely political," writes Eric Zorn. "But history may hail this position as pragmatic -- a stepping-stone for progressive politicians whose hearts incline toward true equality but see in embracing the M-word the same sort of political suicide performed by those who were, for example, in the vanguard of the abolition of slavery. Gay marriage remains something of a toxic term. Marriage has deep religious and cultural roots; a certain meaning and significance that divorce-crazy heterosexuals cling to as their own special institution." READ MORE