In the 24 hours since the airing of my piece, I’ve answered a lot of requests for a transcript. More than anything, I think that’s a testament to the amazing “This American Life” and the devotion of its fans.

After the first few requests, though, I found myself wishing that there was somewhere I could just “post” the thing so that anyone could come read it, copy it, or send their friends to it… somewhere it could live semi-permanently so I wouldn’t have to answer each and every individual email… like some kind of…

…website. Oh.

So here it is. A caveat or two: Because of time constraints, the piece was edited down a bit before being broadcast. I don’t have a transcript of what actually hit the airwaves, but you can probably do the surgery yourself if you so desire. It’s not too hard to do, I’d think - as far as I remember, the only major casualty of the edit were the penguins.

Also, this piece is a mix of the two gay marriage posts from this very blog, and the originals can be found here and here.

Finally, if you DO email it around to your friends, I have one humble-yet-incredibly-vain request. Please make sure my name remains attached to it. I want the Penguin Anti-defamation League to know where to find me.

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[from Ira’s introduction:]…Since January, 18 states have introduced amendments … echoing the president’s language.

Adam Felber says he knows just what the president’s talking about.

This gay marriage thing is tearing my wife and me apart. Now, because of activist judges in Massachusetts and overzealous officials in San Francisco, our union is hanging on by the thinnest of threads.

Back in the simpler days of 2002, when we were planning our wedding, Jeanne and I used to coo fondly at each other about the joys that lay ahead. It wasn’t that we were unsupportive of our gay friends, no. We were just looking forward to the government’s validation of our relationship’s specialness - a license that affirmed that the two of us had made a unique and personal eternal vow to each other. Something uniquer and specialer than any of our homosexual acquaintances could ever even hope for.

We’re all for the separation of church and state, naturally, but if the government doesn’t define marriage as the sacred union between a man and a woman, who will? Are Jeanne and I expected to treasure our union solely on the basis of our deep love, personal beliefs, public vows, and the government’s blessing? Sorry, Judge Pinkypants, but that’s just not good enough. Not for us. We need to know that we’ve got something that’s only available to 90% of the population, the select and upstanding few.

Sure, some of us are criminals. Murderers, even. Some of us have committed rape, beaten children, tattooed swastikas on our bodies, abused animals, broken into houses, bilked the government out of millions of tax dollars, lied under oath, cheated on previous spouses, dishonored our fathers and mothers, failed to keep the Sabbath holy, mowed down pedestrians in our SUV’s while intoxicated, coveted our neighbors’ stuff, gotten ourselves put on death row, sold military secrets to the Chinese, urinated in public places, beaten up people who looked or sounded different than us, and sold drugs in schoolyards.

But we’re straight, and that means we can get married. And that’s special. Or, at least it was. Jeanne and I could look around at other married couples - at least the ones that aren’t currently dealing with serial infidelity, divorce, spousal abuse, or bigamy - and think to ourselves, “Yes, that’s what we’re striving for. That kind of sanctity.”

Are some gay people serious about their commitment to each other? Sure, of course, that’s not the point. Let me give you an example. Jeanne and I know this couple, these two men. They’ve been together for years and years, longer than we have. They live on a farm in Pennsylvania and treasure their time together. They’re loved by their community, have saved lives as members of the local fire department and have opened their home to youth groups from the city. They’ve built a life together based on love and trust. BUT - and here’s my point - they’re gay. They’re both men. And if they’re allowed to marry someday, where does that leave us, my wife and me? See what I’m saying? It’d cheapen everything we have.

And that’s not a knock on gay people. No no no. America loves its gays. Look at the TV, with all those funny gay people on “Will and Grace,” and “Queer as Folk,” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” They’re funny! Funny, colorful people - they’re nature’s clowns, really. Like penguins.

And we don�t allow penguins to marry, do we? No, these are dark times in my household. My wife and I look at each other with haunted, suspicious eyes, feeling like we’ve bought a whole bunch of shares in a stock that is about to be devalued. Suddenly, the eternal, personal vows that we swore to each other will mean very little. We’ll basically become roommates who happen to wear matching rings, while meanwhile out our window we’ll see gays and penguins feeding each other wedding cake willy-nilly on our very own street corner.

That�s why we need a Constitutional amendment that will protect marriage for straight people. Until we have the right to enter that sacred union, violate it, exit it, and enter it again with somebody else, again and again, regardless of what crimes we commit, until we�re too old and feeble to mouth the words, “I do,” - unless we have that right and gay people don’t, then there is truly nothing sacred in the United States of America.