When did America become a country of Henny Pennys, all crying, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Or rather, “Marriage is falling, marriage is falling!”

Let Canada decide that, gee, allowing two people in a committed relationship to get married, even if they’re of the same sex is, like, fair, and suddenly you’d think the world was ending. The Canadians were forced to do so by a court, which correctly and courageously ruled that prohibiting gay folks from getting married discriminated against them unfairly.

Canada is, of course, not the first country to permit gay marriage. Two European countries already have it, and others have a functional equivalent. And to no one’s surprise, the institution of marriage has not been damaged at all. In fact, it might have picked up some steam. When suddenly a whole new group of people long denied the protections of marriage start to get married, you can expect the ranks of all married couples to extend a bit. This is a good thing for marriage, which has been under attack for some time. Not by gay folks who want to get married, but by divorce.

It is a splendid irony that the folks who clamor about the so-called destruction of the institution of marriage don’t focus too much on the main instrument of marriage’s difficulties. After all, 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. I would be a lot more concerned about that than the married ranks increasing by a few thousand gay and lesbian couples. So what gives?

The Henny Pennys say that gay marriage undermines the institution of marriage. How? By making the race to get a good wedding planner that much more difficult for brides?

Between Canadian gay marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Texas sodomy case, the anti-gay-marriage wackos must be quaking in their tightly laced boots. One of the dissenting Justices in the Texas case even noted that this decision would lead to more decisions like it — and even gay marriage. I cannot tell you how it warmed my heart to see the old guy use the words “gay marriage.” It was like hearing Martha Stewart using the words “prison bitch” — something you always wanted but never expected to hear.

The admission is incredibly significant. It shows the inevitability of the cause of fairness, a cause that our country has always aspired to but has sometimes taken longer than expected to achieve. Anybody remember slavery? Or women not having the right to vote? The people who are fundamentally opposed to treating gay folks fairly can smell the change in the wind. Their sky is starting to fall.

What can they do? They have no good arguments against gay marriage. No other country’s experience with gay marriage or its equivalents has caused any problems for the institution of heterosexual marriage. So they are reduced to sloganeering. And when sloganeering becomes the last resort, the battle is already won.

Someday I am looking forward to supporting the institution of marriage by getting married myself. I have to say that I am a little ashamed that my own country, the cradle of liberty, has not been on the vanguard of granting marriage rights to gays. (Remember life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? It applies to gay folks, too.)

The reason I want to get married is simple. Security. I know that half of all marriages end in divorce, but at least they were legal marriages in the first place. When my guy asks me to marry him (assuming it is not me asking him — miracles do happen), I will know he is serious, because the legalities are serious. It is too easy to say, “Will you marry me” when there are no legalities that bind. I’ll feel safer, knowing he means it, till death (or divorce lawyers) do us part.

My husband-to-be and I won’t take away a wedding planner from any brides. I’ve had him lined up for years now — the wedding planner, that is, not the husband-to-be. And I am hoping not to become a statistic of divorce.