man and wife

Texas schools will be getting new textbooks. To conform with state law banning gay marriage, they'll replace texts that use phrases like "married partners" instead of "husband and wife." So it's not just anxiety about gay people having great sex (was it Mencken who defined a Puritan as someone haunted by the fear that someone, somewhere, is enjoying something) but about making sure gender roles are clear. "Husband" and "wife": those terms conjure up a world where women defer to men and do all the housework.