2012-05-12
Explanation
This comic uses a parallel structure to satirize arguments against gay marriage by comparing different types of licenses. It starts with gun licenses, which exist to protect us from dangerous people -- showing a frantic man demanding an assault rifle immediately while being told there'''s a waiting period. Then it shows driver'''s licenses, which protect us from dangerous drivers -- depicting a reckless woman driving the wrong way on a highway. Both are presented as reasonable, common-sense regulations.
The comic then asks the punchline question: "So, what are marriage licenses supposed to protect us from?" The answer is an absurd scene set in a post-apocalyptic landscape where Denver has been destroyed. The explanation given is that after gay marriage was allowed, "two penises touched and set off a nuclear chain reaction." When someone points out that penises touched before gay marriage was legal, the response is "Only married penises are fissile" -- a play on the nuclear physics term "fissile" (capable of sustaining a chain reaction).
The joke highlights the absurdity of anti-gay-marriage arguments by taking them to their logical extreme. If licenses exist to protect society from genuine dangers, opponents of marriage equality would need to demonstrate a comparably catastrophic threat -- and the best the comic can come up with is a literal nuclear explosion caused by married genitalia, which is obviously ridiculous. The votey panel shows a drawing of an "Urgaynium Bomb," continuing the nuclear physics wordplay.