Lagniappe: The Sanctity of Marriage and the Civil Rights that Go with It - Andrew Sullivan really nails it regarding the whole conservative Defense of Marriage movement that really seeks not to "defend marriage" but rather to exclude gays from the institution. First it was convicted parent-killer Lyle Menendez who got to enjoy and parse out the legal benefits of marriage from his prison cell, and now it's Britney Spears who gets married and has the marriage annulled all within 48 hours. What's better for the institution of marriage? What do you think will "defend" the insitution of marriage more? Sanctioning the institution for the whims of people like Menendez and Spears, or counterbalancing their damage to the institution by brining committed homosexual partners into the institution who really seem to actually VALUE the institution seriously. More and more, I see the folly and the hypocrisy of the anti-gay marriage cause.