I agree. Sen. Flake just defused a very tense situation, and he effectively cut the congressman from California out of the circle.  You know... I remember seeing something on a college campus, around 2009, 2010 -- somewhere around there -- that seemed odd to me. It was a super aggressive gay marriage protest, right on the West Mall. Screaming for equal rights, shaming people. I approached one of the protestors who I happened to know, through a friend. I asked them "Why don't you just push for civil unions? All the equal rights -- things that people in love actually care about, like the ability to be in the same hospital room in an emergency -- without the religious connotations that make marriage equality so volatile in a state like Texas?" She shamed me, said that was intolerant. IMO, it would have been a more peaceful approach to take for everybody, but this was Austin, so, naturally, protests like these were all over the place.  Anyway, she later went on to marry a guy, and actively publishes on researchgate.net.  EDIT: Just to clarify, from a sociological perspective, that entire website seems to just collect weaponized sociology. Sometimes, the studies don't even make sense. Weird stuff, like how much carbon dioxide is needed to induce a red tide. Stuff like that.  I don't know if it's an act that Ford's testimony was credible, but I didn't think so. Nobody talks about their goddamn hippocampus like that, scientist or not.