Quote:
Originally Posted by mbm30075
2. I've seen that a lot of people seem to be sort of "live and let live" on the homosexual marriage issue, but what about the following statement?
"Get the government out of sanctioning marriage at all."
I mean, if marriage is a spiritual union (as most people would agree it is), let's let churches deal with it. It seems like legal marriages only exist for governmental control, right?
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If this were the case, then only people who belonged to a church of some kind would be able to officially marry. Without some kind of spiritual ritual, which many people do not have, marriage would be meaningless without government sanction; it would simply cease to exist.
The whole point of government sanction of marriage is the application of laws, tax filing status, custody of children and adult guardianship, insurance benefits, estate inheritance, alimony, etc., etc....It's necessary to define what constitutes that arrangement, otherwise anybody could say they were conveniently married when it was of benefit to them.
Otherwise, it wouldn't make any difference to a gay couple whether or not the government sanctioned the marriage. Why would they care? You want to be married, have a little private ceremony and wear a ring - many do just that. But if there is legal stuff involved, there have to be laws that regulate who gets to say they're married.
Personally, I don't care if gays can get married. Doesn't affect me in the least. I don't understand the argument against it. If a hetero couple can get married on a whim in Vegas, who are we to judge a committed gay couple?