Gay marriage & the dictionaries
» Sodomitical Polity
Lexicographers are taking one tool out of the hands of the reactionaries and bigots who are fighting to prevent gay couples from formalizing their love.
Boston-based Houghton Mifflin, publisher of the American Heritage Dictionary, added a "same sex" clause to its definition of marriage in 2000.
"A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage," the addition — or "sub sense" — states.
"But we'll be altering that in the future to reflect the Massachusetts decision," editor Joe Pickett said.
"There have been a lot of changes in the defining of family terms in the past 15 years," Mr. Pickett continued. "A family is not necessarily a 'nuclear' family anymore. We've also had to re-examine definitions influenced by reproductive technology and accommodate the different possibilities of 'mother' and 'father.' It's an interesting time."
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) retooled "marriage" in 2001.
"It's not so much a redefinition, because our definition did not specify marriage had to be between a man and woman in the first place," said editor Jesse Sheidlower from OED's New York headquarters.
Jennifer Harper, The Washington Times: Dictionaries take lead in redefining modern marriage
