Let the debate begin!

I believe the best solution to the gay marriage issue is to remove government recognition and legal benefits (civil) from the institution of marriage (ceremonial/religious). Under the new system, two adults of full age, without any limitation due to race, color, nationality, sex, gender, sexual preference, political or other opinion, language, or religion, would be granted the right to form a civil union. These unions would legally recognize the couple, whether they are homosexual or heterosexual, as a family and would entitle them to any and all benefits provided to families under the law (providing health insurance, pension, etc.). Essentially, these unions would replace marriage licenses issued currently; i.e. a couple would have to visit a courthouse to obtain a civil union license from a government official (judge, county clerk, etc) granting them legal recognition.

Churches, religious organizations, secular institutions, public individuals would not have the right to grant civil unions to a couple; but would be permitted the right to perform ceremonial marriages in whatever tradition pertained to their belief system. Marriages preformed by churches/individuals/secular organizations would have no legal standing and would not be eligible for any legal benefits. However, the granting institution would retain the right to restrict the marriage ceremony in any manner that they saw fitting (e.g. an organization would not be obligated to marry homosexual couples, interracial couples, couples younger than 25, etc if it went against their belief structure)

IMO, this system would offer the best compromise to all parties. Churches/religious groups/secular organizations/private groups opposed to homosexuality would not be forced into acknowledging same-sex relationships if it conflicted with their belief structure and they would retain the right to any/all ceremonial aspects of marriage. However, those same-sex relationships would no be discriminated against by the law and would have the right to the benefits heterosexual couples enjoy.

what the government defines as marriage is simply a civil contract between two people. and the ones who are mainly opposing same sex marriage are the religious nuts whose only reason for being against it is because the bible said its a sin.

well, it's also a sin to eat shellfish and wear blended clothing or if you are handicapped go to church because you would "profane it". so is working on saturday.

unfortunately for these people, the country is not based on christian religious dogma so the opinions of people with other different religions count too. and these same people must also be consistant. you can't pick and choose which sections of the bible you wish to follow, and as a society we can't base our laws on anyone's holy book. there has to be a much more substantial reason to ban same sex marriage. and not only is there not one, today a circuit court in massachusetts declared that the defense of marriage act, the act that bans same sex marriage violates the equal protection clause of the constitution. i hope it gets appealed all the way to the supreme court to get that hateful law overturned. in the meantime congress should pass a law declaring the practice of marriage as defined by federal statute should be then reclassified as a civil union. if couples wish to be married, they can go to their local priest.

two gays or lesbians getting married is not going to destroy someone else's heterosexual marriage. if these people really want to "protect marriage", make divorce illegal. its not right for people to be on fourth or fifth marriages but same sex couples can't have one.

I'm actually in favor of removing the term marriage from all forms of government regulation. I think everyone should get civil unions and those who are eligible are two consenting adults regardless of gender. No more than two adults in the union and no one can engage in multiple civil unions. I don't like the word marriage in laws as its a distinctly religious term in reality.

(07-09-2010 12:17 AM)brista21 Wrote:  I think everyone should get civil unions

But I don't want one right now dammit!

This is a topic I actually agree with the left on. I think that not allowing gays to be married is flat out wrong. They live together, take out loans, have joint bank accounts. Whats the big deal here. What gays/lesbians do in their personal lives does not affect me in any way. I honestly don't have an opinion on the Civil Union part of this because I never really thought about it or researched it.

I think everyone should quit trying to regulate how people live. We're all different. Everybody should shut the hell up, live their own life, and quit worrying about other people and how they live their life...