South Africa approves gay marriage

This whole gay marriage thing really bothers me. Why is the government involved in marriage at all? If some churches want to sanction same sex marriage then that should be their religous right, if some churches don't then that's their right as well. The only reason the government should care about marriage is so beneficiaries and guardianship can be legally defined, and the gender of the couples have no bearing on these issues. All these man/woman constitutional ammendments etc. should be invalidated, the government should stay out of religion.....period.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(San_Carlos_Jeff @ Nov 14 2006, 01:02 PM) [snapback]348808[/snapback]</div>

Because it's the government that actually marries you, not any church. Regardless of whether the ceremony takes place in city hall or in a church, the marriage license is a government document. And it's that document that declares you officially married. And that's the document your spouse would use as proof if there's a question about benefits/guardianship/etc.

I agree with you that this should be a non-issue. If two people love each other, they should be allowed to be married. Period. If a church or temple doesn't want to marry them, that's their business.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ Nov 14 2006, 01:17 PM) [snapback]348821[/snapback]</div>

Wouldn't that automatically be the case if the right to get married is extended? When I got married no one told me I can also get a divorce. It's part & parcel of the marriage package. Legal annulment would also be included, but not the Catholic version.

 

Generally speaking, once a marriage is in force, one of the people involved has to take a substantive action to end the marriage (i.e., divorce), or the marriage remains valid. There is some debate what, specifically, constitutes a 'substantive action,' though.

So I would think that if there's gay marriage, there would be divorce, period. But there would be nothing otherwise unique about two married people of the same sex legally separating their affairs...since this is, really, what marriage is about in the eyes of the government (or should be, in any case).

 

Here in Massachusetts, where same-gender marriage is legal, we've already had same-gender divorces.

 

The government's getting involved with marriage is like a vegetarian wanting to become a butcher.

The two are better left apart...and both will, ultimately, be the better for it.

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Oh, and thank you for using the phrase, 'same *gender* marriage, since gender and sex are often used interchangibly, when they're in fact two totally different things.