2004-02-26 - 9:09 p.m.

Okay...I've already done this bit, back before it was cool, in fact, but I'll do it again...

"Marriage" can be one of two things. Either it is the property of Religion and Morality and all that, in which case the government needs to stay completely out of it (it's that evil First Amendment thing, since it declares "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" that means that if there is a *single* religion chooses to recognize Gay Marriage, then Congress can't stop them without discriminating against that religion).

Alternatively, it is a Legal Thing, in which case arguments like "Marriage is the most Sacrosanct of Human Institutions, and therefore must be defended at all costs" is not a legitimate part of the discussion, it's just a question of who Congress/Legislature/Courts choose to grant it to, and Billy Graham and Pat Robertson should keep their lilly white holier than thou asses out of it.

The Proper place of government in personal affairs is to enforce the Social Contract, which basically says "You don't hurt me, I don't hurt you". That means murders, robberies, and other crimes against a person are the proper things for government to prevent, pursue, and punish. At the same time, who chooses to screw who using what body opening with what tab doesn't hurt anybody, so why get involved?

The *entire* issue is because this one thing is a weird hodgepodge of both, it's a Legal Distinction which is recognized on the basis of Religious Truth, performed by Religious Folk (with a secular option on the side).

The easiest solution would be for government to get *completely* OUT of marriage. If two people want to declare themselved before their God/Goddess/Demonspawn/Eternal Flame/whatever to be eternally linked, and their chosen religion says "That's cool, we're happy for ya", then excellent, let it be written, let it be done. However, that gets you no legal benefits AT ALL. No guaranteed inheritance, no Insurance bennies, no tax writeoffs, no protection against testifying, none of that.

If the government (which, as you should recall, is a function of the People, so We *are* the government) deems it appropriate to grant sets of two people legal and economic benefits based upon their legal registration as such, then cool, that's fine and appropriate. It shouldn't be called a "Marriage", call it a "Partnership Registration", Hell, call it a "Personal Corporation", the label doesn't matter.

If some folks wanna do both, cool, more power to them. I hope they have a wonderful life.

If some folks want to register for the Legal Partnership without going to a place of Worship and sanctifying it before Gawd Almighty, excellent.

If some folk want to go to a Church and say "We want to be Man and Wife", good for them.

It's easy. It's simple, it's straightforward.

To bad Bush is too caught up in "We have to make only the 28th Change to the Constitution because my Religon says I have to" to recognize that basic truth.

Fortunately, the People of the United States have a chance to vote on that in just 6 short months.

Maybe this time the guy who gets the most votes will win.

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