a modest proposal (aka, What Kos Said)

[anotheranon]

From Daily Kos lefty blog, suggesting a solution to the "gay marriage" mess that I've agreed with for a long time: get the government out of the marriage business.

Makes sense to me - the government shouldn't be telling religious institutions who they can and cannot marry, just as they shouldn't be denying the legal/civil benefits to anyone at all. Civil unions for any and all, in any combination, who want them, and if you want a marriage on top of that, take it up with your priest/rabbi/mullah/grand master/whoever.

Besides, it would stimulate the economy: think of all the gay couples who have waited YEARS to tie the knot, who finally get to. The wedding planners, florists, bakeries, etc. just know they're going to pay a minor fortune for hotel ballrooms, flower garlands, fancy cakes, wedding dresses/tuxes, etc.!

P.S. I voice this suggestion in silly words, but I'm serious - I really think that the "gay marriage" issue is as much, if not more, a church-state separation issue as it is a civil rights issue.

P.P.S.: I need a better "political" icon - Lister as "rebellion against authority" just doesn't cut it.

P.P.P.S.: Yes, this isn't politically filtered. I'm saving that filter for my rants :P

Comments

I'm with you there!

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

That's how I've felt all along. There was a great comic strip a while back where a curmudgeonly character comes out in support of gay marriage. His friend is stunned and asks why, saying "But you're a mean old money grubbing ... DIVORCE LAWYER!"

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Reading through this and all the responses and was thinking that playing a semantics game with the words "marriage" and "union" is all this really is. The government will still be running the civil marriage business in exactly the same way ... just under a different name.

The majority of the people opposed to same-sex marriage are opposed to any type of legally recognized same-sex union, no matter what it's called ... that, to me, is the biggest hurdle to be overcome, in both of our countries. The ones quibbling about the word "marriage" are a minority (although I have a unhappy sneaking suspicion that many of them are trying to paint a liberal whitewash over their own inherent prejudice and would come up with some other reason to object if the wording WERE changed).

What's needed first, before anybody goes changing the words, is to pound into the general population's collective heads the fact that civil marriage and religious marriage are ALREADY two separate things ... that the churches ALREADY decide who they will and will not marry and that our respective governments DO NOT have the legal power to dictate how they handle that decision. And, conversely, that the churches DO NOT have the legal power to dictate who the government will and will not marry.

To sum up, IMHO, we really need to force everybody to learn what the definitions actually ARE (and to use those definitions correctly in sentences, speeches, flying spit rampages about damnation, etc.). THEN we can worry about what to call it. :p

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Sorry so long to reply - LJ flaking + extensive book scanning = delay!

You may have a point here re: most people don't realize that civil and religious marriages are separate things, and until this is stated explicitly, repeatedly, most people may not think of this.

I still think it's a good idea though - I think the French already have a legal setup that all church marriages must be preceded by getting the paperwork done at the local courthouse to assure all the secular legal protections traditionally associated with religious marriage; this would not be so different.

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Glad to know that you've been treating yourself to fun stuff and unlaxing! :-))))

The idea, in principle, is sound, but until the general population is made to understand that there ARE two types of marriage, any change of that sort is just going to appear as some sort of government runaround or underhandedness. We have to get the house built on secure foundations first, then we can worry about redecorating it. :p