The gay marriage issue is tragic. Why aren't liberals trying to pry marriage out of government control entirely?
The underlying premise behind gay marriage is flawed - the government should not be issuing marriage licenses at all! Not for anyone, straight, gay, or any combination in between. If ever there ever was an example of church and state mixing, its marriage licenses.
The real answer is to make civil unions the standard, for everyone, with all the authority the government has to make and enforce contracts. Let people get married in their religious settings with state-issued civil union contracts in hand.
A grand irony for gays pushing for marriage is the obvious risk that straights face in marriage, the divorce. Divorce rates will be no different for gays as for straight, now over 50%!
Case in point, Robin Tyler filed for divorce from Diane Olson on January 25. The pair were among 14 gay couples originally challenging the Prop 8 ban in 2008.
The tragedy for gays is not about marriage. Gays are discriminated against as government employees, and by the IRS. And of course, the civil union statutes are inconsistent between states. Often a civil union is not as binding, or as protective as a marriage license.
Gays should attain equality in all contract relationships. The IRS does not allow gays, for example, to file joint returns. The IRS embeds the term 'marriage' in their filing status and even goes further to say that the marriage must be between a 'man' and a 'woman'. A simple fix is to make the IRS recognize domestic partners, and/or civil unions and forgo the word marriage entirely. And of course, remove the language requiring opposite genders.
Until the religious aspect of state-sanctioned marriages is untangled, this struggle will remain. Why isn't anyone pushing for real equality?
Related:
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Washington State Lawmakers Pass Gay Marriage Bill
