Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
I agree, though, with what some others have said: that this is an issue made much more complicated by the way civil marriage and religious marriage are intertwined and entangled in our current system. I think that's why this isn't the problem in, say, Catholic Spain that it can be here -- in Spain, a civil marriage is a completely seperate thing from a religious marriage, and the civil marriage is the only one that has any legal effect. Here, a religious marriage has legal effect.
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This is the crux of the issue for my family members (evangelical Christians) who are vehemently opposed to the legal recognition of any marriage other than one man and one woman.
I think that they are most angry, for several reasons.
1) They feel that the values they consider fundamental to this country are doing down the drain.
2) They feel that proponents of the "Gay Agenda" (both gay advocates and allies) are pushing to legislate acceptance, which is something they will never do.
3) They simply refuse to separate civil partnership from religious marriage.
When I've suggested that, perhaps, we should begin moving in the direction of civil partnerships for all (both homosexual and heterosexual couples) in the eyes of the law, I'm told that "the gays" would never approve, because they want their relationships to be as socially valid as heterosexual marriages. Well...duh. Who doesn't want equality? But, social acceptance, in my opinion, isn't ever going to be the first step.
In any case, I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't want it for myself. I'd rather the state not have the power to deem my relationship a marriage. The state has nothing to do with it. All I want from the government is certain rights.
At some point, we're going to have to figure out a way to accommodate a variety of legally recognized family configurations. Marriage equality doesn't end here.
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