[AKA_Monet]

Why is it important for 2 individuals to be married in the "state" (or under the government)???

This goes back to property rights from the British Empire. When our "founding fathers" declared their independence from the Empire, they used some of the property rights used by the King in the instances of marriage. Marriage was seen as a unionization of monetary gain. At that time, only a monarchical (sp?) recognized union was legally binding... And that went along with all the war treaties made between England and France and other European Countries... What that means is that only those having a "title" could be "seen" legally married for the mere purpose of property rights... When the United States was formed, then the war relenquished all property obtained by marriage treaties between England, France, etc... Then some European countries started to land grab when the war concluded a bit... But no longer did marriage treaties between the continents were able to be maintained...

Remember long ago, women were beheaded if they did not procreate male children... But then again, a man could marry and have many wives...

What we are seeing nowadays is the archaic understanding of marriage imposed on us. Under statesmanship, it may have minimal at best, legal understandings that were once well defined and clearly demarcated...

As far as to why folks marry now? Most folks do it for their own reasons... There is NO legal requirement to be married other than for monetary gain and even then, there may not be a good reason. So it all boils down to how one person can commit to another for a period of time for whatever reason...