The solution is either for the government to allow true marriage equality and allow the solemnizations done by Pagan priests for gay couples to be just as legal as a Christian wedding of a straight couple, or for the government to get out of the marriage game altogether and establish only civil unions for everyone. Anything else creates a moral hierarchy with the traditional Christian definition of marriage at the top, and anything deviating from that below it. Thia marriage debate isn't just about legal rights for gay couples, it is about respect, and true religious equality. So long as Pagan marriages and handfastings of gay couples aren't legally recognized, the American government is participating in the sort of religious favorites-playing the separation of Church and State is supposed to prevent.
Jason Pitzl-Waters was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. This was in the 70s and 80s before cool indie-rock bands started hanging out there. He currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Jason started his writing career covering the arts for local alternative papers in Champaign/Urbana Illinois. In 2002 he started writing the music column "A Darker Shade of Pagan" (now a successful podcast) for the first four years of the youth-oriented Pagan magazine "newWitch". It was during his stint writing for "newWitch" that he started the popular Pagan-oriented weblog "The Wild Hunt". A daily look at news affecting the modern Pagan/Heathen communties, "The Wild Hunt" is considered by many to be an essential resource, and has grown a considerable audience since its start in 2004.
Jason continues to write daily for "The Wild Hunt", in addition to freelance writing projects, including an essay on Pagan blogging for "Llewellyn's 2007 Wicca Almanac: A Guide to Pagan Living", and an upcoming essay on influential Pagans for "PanGaia" magazine. He is also writing his first book, a history of modern Pagan and occult music.
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