With all of the debate over Gay-marriage and the Christian conservative right hearing the battle cry to protect "traditional marriage" it leads me to the opinion that one of the solutions should be seperating the Marriage ceremoney from Government. Removing Government from marriage is the answer.

What is stopping Congress and the people from moving in that direction?

Creating this seperation with the local government will not affect fees charged to those that want a legal civil union. Government won't have to perform any time of marriage ritual. It will be as special as filling out a DMV form to get a drivers license.

"Traditional Marriage" can then be interpretted however a religious group / organization wants to do it since it will just be a religious ceremony.

The fact that you were married by a church will have no meaning to the Government.


I have no idea how much money it would cost for local, state, and federal government along with businesses to change their future forms to remove the Married box and replace it with a civil union check box.

I wasn't able to find a good source for aggregating the averge amount of money collected yearly from issuing marriage licenses.


Would you be offended if Congress started to move in this direction? yes / no Why?

Would your view on your personal marriage and what it means to you be affected because of this social change? Yes / No why?

Would you as a taxpayer be affected by any fraud that might occur when two people decide to create a civil union and then benefit from one of the employer's benefit plans? (welfare / medicaid usually benefits those that are not married)
Is this even an issue for defending the traditional marriage?

What you're suggesting would actually constitute a definition change for "Traditional Marriage".

Marriage has always been a "legal" or better said "contractual" agreement. Religion has only recently (historically speaking) been involved.

Marriage has always been done for legal purposes; joining two families, land/property ownership rights, gaining legal protections between two people, etc. In modern times it's a way to show that two people have financially and (at least in theory) emotionally have committed to each other. Marriage, in the US, instantly grants a small book of rights that would take thousands of dollars and months or years to gain without said marriage contract. What does religion have to do with any of that? Nothing, nothing at all.

How 'bout instead of trying to block people from getting legally married or calling it something else, religion should just worry about making the ceremonies (which have nothing to do with legal marriages, except for the part where they sign the government document, usually afterward when no one else is around) for people in their congregations as nice and inclusive as possible and stay out of government (which is what they are supposed to do thanks to separation of church and state).

Under common law, there is no need for the government to get involved in any way. It is a private contract between 2 people. When government gets involved, it overly complicates things, which causes too many problems, as it is right now.

So, what is a possible solution to help unravel the Government and the courts from making any judgements on the issue ?


The laws surrounding:
Pensions
Insurance
Health Insurance
Banking / Financials
Other Benefits
Power of Attorney


All need to be modified so that not just the defined Man/Woman union is in the working. I suppose it needs to be gender neutral in order to not be judgey on which human marries another human.

I would love to see marriage as a religious institution only.

I never understood how a guy in a bathrobe that waved his hands and spoke magic words made a leagal civil contract.

I would love to see tax equality, I am tired of paying thousands of dollars more in taxes than married folks that make more money than me.

I think it is religion that needs to get out of marriage.

Marriage is a civil contract that gives the participants a wide range of benefits and responsibilities. This is in response to a perceived benefit to society from having more stable homes. People in stable marriages tend to take care of each other instead of burdening the government with costs.

Religion has nothing to do with it.