Marriage by Any Other Name

[torasama.livejournal.com]

While a rose may be a rose by any other name, the same does not hold true of marriage. Marriage is marriage. Civil unions are not equal to marriage, both in society's eyes and the law's - couples joined under a civil union do not have the same rights as a married couple. Denoting long-term, committed same-sex relations as 'lesser' opens a legal Pandora's box and provides a venue for continued discrimination, by applying a different set of rights to opposite-sex and same-sex couples.

To deny a civil marriage to a same-sex couple is blatant discrimination per the 14th Amendment. Just as the anti-interracial marriage arguement that all races had the "same right" to marry others of their own race didn't work in Loving vs. Virginia, the arguement that homosexuals have the "same right" to marry people of the opposite sex doesn't work, either.

Comments

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Except that that simply ignores the problem, or at best shifts it around. And incest is not and never has been excepted in Western civilization. And mass weddings are evidently fine if Sung Myung Moon (who much of the Fundie movement is in bed with) does them....so I don't see why you'd pick that to whine about.

And what you propose is the traditional model, so I think it would work, but it likely isn't going to be adopted because it is more than a little sensible and involves treating everybody equally. >.>

[hunterkirk.livejournal.com]

"And incest is not and never has been excepted in Western civilization."

Really as long as your not first cousins it is fine legally. Also if the standard is consent then I know of at least three incestual couples that are consenting and have been punished with jail time and having their children taken from them.... So why do you think government has a right to get between them and their love?

"Except that that simply ignores the problem"
Depends on what you consider the problem to be. If the problem is rights it works perfectly to solve them. If the problem is acceptance of homosexuality then it does nothing to help that. If the problem is government support for the family it does nothing to support that. It all depends on what you consider the problem to be.

[torasama.livejournal.com]

What, exactly, do you think "incest" is?