Argentina Legalizes Gay Marriage and Adoption, 1st country in Latin America

[richardhutnik]

Akvod said:

richardhutnik said:

Why does a marriage need to be something done by governments?  That is what I am talking about.  People don't need government to get married to one another,or pick who to couple with.  You can say the wedding vow with anyone you want, and choose to live by it.  Religion has codified the rituals, and standardize the meaning in it.

To go beyond this is to end up getting into a discussion of whether or not government or religion came first. 

Actually I like your solution the best.

Civil union status granted by government. Religious status granted by citizenry, and acknowledged by citizenry. Seperation of state and religion, I like it. Gay people can find the church and people that will acknowledge them as married Christians, muslims, etc, those who disagree can keep their disagreements to themselves.

I think this is the best option.

My thoughts on this came out of discussing the issues at a Libertarian meeting, and someone said it and I thought it best.  The main thing the government needs to be concerned about is the welfare of minors (and the partners, but assume adults know how to manage their affairs) and the proper dividing of property when a partnership dissolved.  Outside of this, trying to use government laws to change societial values, I find to be sheer folly. 

The point is to have sufficient flexibility to manage the range of human experience, and minimum the problems that can arise.  Shoot, the civil union method could be used to allow platonic friends to be able to support one another in a positive manner to.