State of Marriage

[orwell]

How about this for a solution to the Gay Marriage controversy.

The states stop issuing marriage licenses altogether. All couples are issued civil union licenses, which enjoy not only all state legal protections currently afforded any marriage license, but also the full faith and credit provisions that would allow such civil unions to be transportable to any state in the union.

If the applicants wish the blessings of their church over the union, that particular Church can decide whether or not they will issue a marriage certificate to that couple, no matter what the sexual orientation.

It is in the state's interest to define legal unions, not moral unions. The state has a legal obligation to do this if they are going to afford certain rights and privileges to such unions such as tax differentials and legal rights of survivorship. But the state can not discriminate as to the morality of such unions.

If the individual churches want to set such morality tests, that is within their purview. It would not be legal discrimination per se for a church to set its own acceptable rules of admission, no matter how arcane they may be.

Just a suggestion from an unmarried, middle aged white guy, cohabitating in Baghdad by the Bay.

O

PS. While I fully support equal rights for all no matter what your race, creed or sexual orientation, this controversy will be a major wedge issue flogged to death by the BushBots. We had better start coming up with real solutions rather than polarizing the debate. Remember, polarization is the Con's meme. If you adopt it, you will spread it.

[distortionmarshall]

1. lol - the gay guy on cnn.....

defending gay marriage - great advocate for his side - both flaming and reasoned - a real tour de force, illustrating the idiocy of the other side.... woulda been better if he woulda addressed the issue of "who gets the word 'marriage' "......

lol - the conservative sounds just like the old racists....

[orwell]

2. The Advocate

I heard him on a radio show last night. He was very good, reasoned and sensible. He really got me to think about this issue.

FWIW a good friend of mine got hitched at SF City Hall last weekend. He and his lover were ecstatic.

It was sweet.

O

[truthspeaker]

3. The thing is marriage was a civil institution before it was a religious 1

As a non-believer I'm not willing to concede it to the religious folk.

[orwell]

4. Polar Opposites

The marriage meme is coding to get you to react. The term civil union carries no such codification. It is highly descriptive of the nuts and bolts of the legal arrangement, without the socio-religious connotations.

It effectively depolarizes the debate.

O