To interrupt the Gustav-related doom-and-gloom for a moment, on Saturday, Los Angeles County recognized the marriage of my dear family friend L to her longtime girlfriend M. L has been like an aunt to me since I was a baby: she’s my mother’s best friend and she lived with us for, I guess, three years when I was entering adolescence, a time when we spent a year living in another friend’s guest rooms due to problems with our house. As a rabbi, she’s provided wise advice and spiritual comfort my entire life long.

The idea that this extraordinary woman couldn’t marry the woman she loves is perverse. I have a hard time understanding how could be any consistent basis for opposing same-sex marriage. A fringe of Christianity don’t believe such an arrangement is marriage? Well, at least in this case, neither L nor M are Christians, and their faiths recognize its validity.

But to an extent, that’s beside the point. Every non-abusive romantic relationship is legitimate — or, put another way, no non-abusive romantic relationship is more legitimate than any other. We seek a legal and social arrangement that, at long last, recognizes that basic truth.

L&M: Congratulations. I love you. And I’ll see you when you hold the bigger ceremony.