Quote:
Originally posted by aephi alum
Calling same-sex unions "marriage", though, might be a point to yield on. The important thing is that the unions are recognized at all.
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I agree, and I think it should be taken further -- I think that "marriage" should be a word reserved for a religious ceremony, and "union" would be the government's acknowledgement of a familial unit for benefits, taxes, visitation rights, etc... for *all* unions (gender of the participants irrelevant).
As it currently stands, there's a little too much mixing of church and state for my liking. The government has no need to recognize a church marriage -- it needs to recognize a union to create the family unit.
Separating the concepts would allow the churches to keep marriage as they define it, but allow families with same sex parents to actually exist on the same level as families with different sex parents.
That way, you could get yourself a union, a marriage, or both simultaneously depending on how you see fit.
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