Welcome to Gaia! ::

Here is my opinion in regards to the issue as it involves the USA; it's in the form of a letter I wrote at 2 in the morning and sent to a few senators and members of the HoR.

---

Dear Senator ______,

I am writing to you today to submit my opinion on the issue of gay marriage, as well as my suggestions for how it should be dealt with. I will begin by addressing the topic of "marriage" itself.

Marriage is an inherently religious institution. As our country operates under the principal of the Separation of Church and State, any federal act to define and restrict marriage would be considered unconstitutional; however the State may define and regulate it as it sees fit.

In accordance with the idea that marriage is a religious institution and as such cannot be legislated upon by federal powers, it follows that federal recognition and definition of marriage is unconstitutional, thus, the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, as would be any future legislation to add a constitutional amendment defining marriage. This is the first thing I want done: the repeal of DOMA, and the acknowledgement on the part of at least the Supreme Court that the Act is unconstitutional.

I do understand the importance of marriage in our culture and how deeply ingrained it is in our society. The rights and securities that marriage confers unto married couples are important for the security of the family unit in many ways, and though I believe that marriage should not be federally recognized or confer any legal rights upon anyone at all, I do not wish to abolish the availability of these securities from our society; nor to I wish to deny them to homosexual couples.

As such, I propose a solution. A type of Civil Union (separate from the institutions already in place under several state governments) must be created that confers unto couples all the rights and responsibilities of the traditional marriage. The federal recognition of marriage (for reasons I have already stated), as well as all its legal rights, must be abolished. Upon marriage, the newlywed couple will automatically receive a Civil Union, and that is from where their rights shall derive. Same-sex couples who wish to live together and undertake the responsibilities of marriage/start a family will also be able to receive Civil Unions, without restriction. This may be done through the court system, or through marriage in states where homosexual marriage is allowed.

Denying gays the right to the securities and responsibilities of marriage, while at the same time giving marriage legal recognition and restricting who can parlay those rights, runs counter to the Bill of Rights and the ideal of equality that exists in this country. It would be a restriction on Civil Liberties (not to mention blatant discrimination) to deny gays the same rights that are given to straight people when they seek to live together and start a family.

When this Civil Union of which I speak is created, it must be equal in legal reckoning with what marriage legally includes now, and clauses must be provided to prevent the State from undermining its meaning and twisting its words around upon itself. "Marriage" must become legally meaningless, all official documents must no longer ask about "marriage", but about Civil Union, and the inclusion of a secondary box for communicating the fact that one is "married" must be prohibited in order to prevent discrimination.

Religious communities and the State may define and restrict marriage in whichever ways they wish, however the Civil Union of which I speak must be the federally recognized institution in lieu of marriage, and it shall be immune to tampering and restrictions based on religious grounds. Homosexuality is not a choice, nor is it a moral ill or a threat to the health and well-being of anything, and any legislation intended to deny homosexuals their basic Civil Rights is illegal.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,
Alex ______

----------


And that's that.

(Don't get me wrong guys; I'd love for marriage to be open to gays everywhere, it's just that I don't think "marriage" can really be legally regulated or can [read "should"] even have legal meaning.... ><)

Nobody wrote back. ;_; All I got were letters basically saying "Hello, I am a bot Senator _____ received your message. Thanks! I care about what you have to say! I get millions of emails though, so I won't respond might not respond."

Maybe I will print it out, and send it to the President instead. eek

OH!

tl;dr summary: I don't think that marriage should have legal meaning or can even be legally regulated by the government. However I do think that a legal institution should exist that should be open to all couples that could help them raise a family and get the cool benefits of a traditional marriage.

I don't agree with your idea of civil unions for everyone. While it is an interesting idea, it also would cause a lot of religious institutions to freak out. Not to mention, marriage is so ingrained in our culture that changing it would cause a huge uproar. And, not to mention, throughout history the concept of marriage has changed a lot. Years ago, marriage was only between two people of the same race. Further back, only between white people. At one point in history you had to marry your rapist if you were raped. At another point, arranged marriages were the rage and marrying for love was unheard of. The concept of marriage has changed so much over the years that it's really silly to try and pin it down as something concrete. Marriage is just a concept and that concept can be changed and has been changed to fit with the times. And only giving gays civil unions is just as ridiculous as making black people drink at a different fountain. It's absurd and derogatory.

Not to mention, marriage is a romantic idea. You never hear "I'd like to civil union you", and it'd end up being called "marriage" in slang and it'd upset religious folks anyhow.

eek Wow...

Marriage IS run by the church, thus making it religious, so as long as the religion shuns homosexuality, gays can't get married. At this point in time gays are looked down upon by most people, so you're not going to get a "marriage" equal to that of a same sex one. I like your civil union idea.

I agree, it is just discrimination. A large majority of gays are born that way. It's no worse than racism or sexism. Not to mention in a world with an exploding population, we could need a kind of peaceful birth control like gay marriage.

Marriage is a legal right in the US, since we claim to have a separation of Church & State, it should be open to everyone. It's as simple as that.

The fact its still illegal here, is the biggest bag of crap I've seen.