We've been hearing a lot about "traditional marriage" lately. Traditional marriage is sacred. Traditional marriage is the most basic building block of society. Traditional marriage is essential in raising healthy kids. Traditional marriage needs to be protected from the heathens who want to "redefine" it.

And we're going to be hearing a lot more of this traditional marriage talk in the coming months. Defenders of traditional marriage are expected to dump obscene amounts of cash into this state to convince you to reject Referendum 74 this November, which would overturn marriage-equality legislation already passed in Olympia and signed by the governor. On the other hand, if a majority of voters approve Referendum 74, Washington will become the seventh state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage—and the first to do so by popular vote. No state has ever passed marriage equality through the ballot box, due to the messaging (and the money) of traditional marriage advocates.

But what is traditional marriage, exactly? What's the secret to a healthy, traditional, "opposite" marriage? In this issue, a bunch of queers look into traditional marriage and report back on who's practicing traditional marriage these days, what traditional marriage looks like, and how traditional marriage works. We can all learn something from traditional marriage's example.