California set for gay marriage ballot showdown | Politics | Reuters
Not that many months ago I read Barack Obama's last book. My girlfriend was trying to get me to understand him better as his campaign warmed up in the fall. It worked. Generally, I supported him somewhat before I read the book, but I threw al my support behind him after I read it.
One area that has led to repeated conversations with my girlfriend and with others down the pub has been gay marriage. Obama supports civil unions, and basically believes that gays should have the same legal rights as everyone else. He doesn't however support legalizing gay marriage.
This get a little tricky because religion and law have gotten so tangled when it comes to marriage. It's not that Obama doesn't think gays should be allowed to marry, he opposes the government forcing churches to do anything. And at least in that respect I agree.
So here's my proposal (largely worked out with or stolen directly from my girlfriend). Let's take marriage out of the law altogether. Let's leave marriage to the the churches. They can have it. It's a largely symbolic act anyway.
Let's remove any legal consequence of marriage. No tax implications, no survivor implications, no insurance implications. Let whoever wants to get married get married. If the churches as a whole want to refuse to marry gays, then fine. Gays can certainly still hold the same kinds of ceremonies, because I'm guessing that a few people out there are wise enough to recognize that love has nothing to do with gender.
Now, how do we handle all that legal stuff we left behind? My feeling is some of it can be dealt with easily. My feeling is that a person should be able to select who gets their survivor benefits regardless of their marital status. However I know that that would be controversial for some.
So how bout creating a civil union that works for anyone. Create a divide between ceremonial marriage and legal union. Two wholly separate entities. The more closed minded religious folks are afraid that gay marriage will somehow destroy the traditional family, but the traditional family is already dying.
It has been since women started looking for equal rights. Most marriages end in divorce and the dysfunctional family has become the norm. I say anyone capable of creating a home of love and happiness ought to be given a shot at it.
November is the battleground. I'm afraid Florida might be a lost cost in this as is so many things, but California is moving in the right direction. If we can block this. Keep this from happening, it proves that people are waking up to a newer for forward looking, open minded world.
"Values voters have even more reason to go to the polls in 2008," said Tony Perkins, a leading religious conservative who is president of the Family Research Council.
Initiatives to ban gay marriage played a role in President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election as they propelled the Republican Party's conservative Christian base to the polls.
Not that many months ago I read Barack Obama's last book. My girlfriend was trying to get me to understand him better as his campaign warmed up in the fall. It worked. Generally, I supported him somewhat before I read the book, but I threw al my support behind him after I read it.
One area that has led to repeated conversations with my girlfriend and with others down the pub has been gay marriage. Obama supports civil unions, and basically believes that gays should have the same legal rights as everyone else. He doesn't however support legalizing gay marriage.
This get a little tricky because religion and law have gotten so tangled when it comes to marriage. It's not that Obama doesn't think gays should be allowed to marry, he opposes the government forcing churches to do anything. And at least in that respect I agree.
So here's my proposal (largely worked out with or stolen directly from my girlfriend). Let's take marriage out of the law altogether. Let's leave marriage to the the churches. They can have it. It's a largely symbolic act anyway.
Let's remove any legal consequence of marriage. No tax implications, no survivor implications, no insurance implications. Let whoever wants to get married get married. If the churches as a whole want to refuse to marry gays, then fine. Gays can certainly still hold the same kinds of ceremonies, because I'm guessing that a few people out there are wise enough to recognize that love has nothing to do with gender.
Now, how do we handle all that legal stuff we left behind? My feeling is some of it can be dealt with easily. My feeling is that a person should be able to select who gets their survivor benefits regardless of their marital status. However I know that that would be controversial for some.
So how bout creating a civil union that works for anyone. Create a divide between ceremonial marriage and legal union. Two wholly separate entities. The more closed minded religious folks are afraid that gay marriage will somehow destroy the traditional family, but the traditional family is already dying.
It has been since women started looking for equal rights. Most marriages end in divorce and the dysfunctional family has become the norm. I say anyone capable of creating a home of love and happiness ought to be given a shot at it.
November is the battleground. I'm afraid Florida might be a lost cost in this as is so many things, but California is moving in the right direction. If we can block this. Keep this from happening, it proves that people are waking up to a newer for forward looking, open minded world.
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