THE GAY MARRIAGE SOLUTION
David Corn's entertaining re-post from 2 years ago of the story of how gay marriage was responible for marriage bickering and quarrels leads me to re-post my solution to the problem. So sorry to deprive George Bush and his right wing supporters of this "culture" issue, but, excerpted from February 2004 posting, here is the solution:
".... letting the states decide will create a legal mess and is sure to result in prohibition of gay marriage in many states. Couples will go forum shopping for states that will permit them to marry. All this sound and fury over an issue that we can easily avoid.
The solution - take marriage off the table. Get the body politic out of the marriage business
Let marriage be the private commitment that it really is. Those who wish can choose marriage, and label it as such, in accordance with their faith, spiritual values, ethics, or other personal beliefs. It may or may not be church or religion-related; that depends of the tenets of the religion and the wishes of the couple.
On the other hand, the state should have nothing to do with the institution of marriage. Its concern should only be civil union and the regulation of the legalities of formation and dissolution, basic rights and obligations of the parties, and economic benefits attendant to the union. The state's role as protector of children remains unchanged.
So change the words, get the state completely out of the institution of "marriage".
With all of this marriage turmoil behind us, we can concentrate on real issues such as Liza Mannelli's left hook."
