lisaquestions | (no subject)

Actually, I think just giving everyone civil unions as a civil contract and leaving the silly marriage thing up to religious institutions would be the best all-around solution.

I used to think this, but now... fuck them. The churches don't own marriage.

If we did it that way, the religious right would take it as a mandate that Christianity really does own marriage as a concept.

Also: As has been demonstrated in Oregon, even though they might say they're down with civil unions, they're opposed to those as well.

I probably should've said religious institutions and individuals. I don't know, I have never been to keen on marriage as a institution, how it's so weighed down in historical patriarchy kind of makes it poisonous to me. I just find the splitting of hairs over "marriage" and "civil unions" to be nonsense.

That distinction was just created by the a reaction to religious right pressure by activists to make the idea more appealing to the public. In a long term strategic sense we may have shot ourselves in the foot, since it gives people a chance to vote against gay marriage and still feel like they aren't denying a right or a privilege.

And for those of us whose gods aren't weird enough to care about marriage, then? Are we the new second-class citizens?

Oh, wait, non-Christians are already not real people.

Okay wait a minute, I didn't specify which institution did I? Hell, I think if two get together and just want to call it "marriage" then they have the right too if they don't want a regligious ceremony involved. But the whole struggle semantics over whether to call it a civil union or marriage just seems absurd to me. It just might be best to get the government out of the marriage business across the board.

"Getting the government out of the marriage business" means abolishing the probate courts, abandoning the concept of next of kin, and removing all inheritance protocols. It's a legal contract, we have an entire branch of government for looking after legal contracts.