As the elections roll around both sides are trotting out the same old tired - and fraudulent - arguments about gay marriage and how gay people are "entitled" to marry.
Why don't we cut the crap?
Marriage is a church institution. If you want a civil union, go see a judge. If you want a marriage, go see a priest!
Go find me a legal code which says that you must have a state marriage license to have a sacramental marriage performed in a church.
You can't - because such a law would be presumptively unconstitutional (interfering with the separation of church and state)
Now if you want the trappings of a state civil union, along with its benefits and privileges, you must buy a state civil license. That the state has stolen the word "marriage" and redefined it does not make what they license marriage. It is no such thing. The very definition of marriage is found in the holy books of various religions, and predates our government by 5,000 years or more.
Indeed, not that long ago when you wanted to get married - even in this country - you posted your banns on the church door. There was no "license", there was no state involvement, there was none of that claptrap. You went and talked to a priest, who made his inquiries as to whether your union was in concordance with the faith's rules, and if so, he performed the ceremony. If you had a dispute that you felt justified terminating that marriage you likewise went and saw a priest - THE CHURCH determined if you were released from your obligation - or not.
State marriage laws were first passed in this country as a means of controlling "miscogenation" - that is, prevention of the inter-marriage of white and black people.
The very institution of state marriage was formed for the purpose of enforcing racism! The correct fix is not to talk about whether or not the state should endorse "marriage" for gay people. That is an artifice - a fraud - perpetrated upon the public by people who are seeking to misuse and abuse the Constitution.
The correct fix is to enforce the Constitution, which prohibits the state from meddling in the affairs of religion, and leaving the definition of marriage to the various faiths which wish to sanction it. If a faith has a particular set of strictures they wish to enforce (e.g. fidelity, opposite-gender participants, etc) then let them draw standardized contracts under their rules and have the celebrants to their sacramental marriage sign them as a matter of civil law. Such contract could provide that binding arbitration to be conducted under Church Law be used to resolve all disputes, as just one example of how this would differ from what we have now.
You probably have such an agreement in your mortgage, you have one in your brokerage agreement, hell, you have one in your cell phone service agreement! These binding civil agreements are all throughout your life and they are enforceable.
There is no reason whatsoever not to contract your "marriage" on terms SOLELY between yourself, your intended spouse and your church.
If you want a civil union then go get a "license" from the state. By doing so you are agreeing that the state may change the terms any time they'd like - your "license" specifically states (and so says the case law) that this "union" is actually between
THREE people - you, your spouse
AND THE STATE, and the state has the right to meedle in it any time it would like!
If the want a marriage, and not a "civil union", go see a priest.
If you want BOTH then go see them SEPARATELY,
but do not defile your religion nor your faith by bringing a sworn document that directly contradicts your faith into a house of worship.If a priest tells you that you must have a state license, ask him under what law he is required to demand that of you. He will be unable to do so, because no such law exists in any state of this nation.
If your Church will not perform a sacramental marriage without requring that you defile its place of worship, you need to seek out a different Church. The one you are attending now is almost certainlty interested in your money and your fealty but does not actually practice whatever faith they - and you - claim to hold dear.
If you go get a state "marriage license" - a document that on its face evidences something that either party can dissolve for no cause whatsoever, other than deciding they'd like to end it, and you then take that document into a place of worship and ask the priest/pastor/minister to perform a ceremony in which you make pledges before God that contradict what you just signed at the clerk of the court's office then it is YOU who are the hypocrite and you deserve what you get.
You have willfully and knowingly sworn falsely before God.
If you are a person of faith, then you understand and believe that such an intentional, premeditated act is one of the ways that you can damn yourself.
If you're not a person of faith then what you really want is a civil union - not a marriage - so have at it.
