At 09:16 PM 2/23/2004 -0800 Doug Pensinger wrote:
>I have a few questions that I wonder if anyone here has the answers to.
>What is the substantive difference between marriage and civil union? If
>they are for all intents and purposes synonymous other than the
>same/opposite sex angle, will the effect of an amendment prohibiting same
>sex marriage be that it in fact outlaws civil unions as well because they
>_are_ synonymous.
I think that an important difference is the name. You may scoff, but it
seems quite clear that reserving the name of "marriage" for heterosexual
unions clearly seems to be very important to a very large segment of the
body politic.
Another difference that I anticipate will develop will be the incentives
for producing and raising children. These incentives will be applied to
marriages, but not to civil unions. Civil unions, will however, acquire
many of the rights of marriage that currently formalize the intimate
partnership.
>If you do outlaw same sex marriage but allow same sex civil unions, what
>keeps people from calling a civil union a marriage? Are we going to have
>marriage police arresting people for using improper terminology?
Certain progressive denominations are and will remain free to marry
homosexual couple. These marriages will simply not have legal standing,
however.
>Here's the way I see it. It is not illegal to love someone that is the
>same sex as yourself and it does no harm to society to do so. Quite to
>the contrary, I would think that the more solid, loving relationships a
>society has, the better. If it is not illegal then withholding a benefit
>for one that you bestow on another _is_ illegal. Equal protection. If
>we amend the constitution to outlaw same sex marriages, we will be
>codifying bigotry (again.)
Again, not to be flip about it, but homosexuals remain free to marry
someone of the opposite sex, just like everyone else.
In my mind, this is at minimum a very salient *legal* difference,
especially given the current reliance upon "equal protection" grounds of
the current pro homosexual marriage arguments I have seen.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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