OT slightly

If someone did both of these things
1) Called you uneducated
2) Claimed Australia had a bill of rights as part of our constitution

Then I suggest you reply with a big LOL. Australia does not have a bill of rights.

Anyway, as a guy who doesn't really see the point of marriage, I always find this discussion hard. In my opinion, the entire problem is caused by the lack of seperation of church and state in this crazy world.

Religious leaders should have the right to declare that people are married. This should have no legal meaning, should not be recorded anywhere except in the church records and the wedding photos. They should be able to make this declaration about who they want, and that should be up to them to sort it out.

Civil Servants of a certain rank should have the right and responsibility to declare that people are in a civil union (I think if civil union had a better name that might help). This should have all the legal effects that marriage currently has. Anyone who has the right to perform this ceremony, has the responsibility to perform this ceremony if asked. They cannot choose to not perform it because the people are gay, they cannot choose not to perform it because there are 20 people wishing to be part of the union (although tax benefits need to not work the same way for poly-unions).

If a religious leader wishes to be able to perform the ceremony that has a legal effect, they should apply to become a justice of the peace. If a civil servant wishes to be able to call the ceremony 'marriage' they should become a priest.

Sorry for wall of text, complex issue and all

Edit: All that text and I seemed to not answer the OP. Yes, I consider civil unions to be a right that everybody has. I do not believe that people need the right to call their union 'marriage'

This should be interesting. Tagged for later.

Why is it the government's role to decide who is or is not married?

We live in a society where people believe that the government should treat all people equally regardless of the lifestyle choices they make so why does it make sense for the government to create any distinction between individuals and/or groups based on their lifestyle?

Yah I was called uneducated and the user who called me such talked about his bill of rights. I thought initially he was American but after viewing his profile realized he was australian. I did a night of Google searching and found nowhere in Australian law that marriage is a right. Infact Canada has the Decleration of Rights and the US has the Bill of Rights. But again neither mention marriage as a right or even mention it much if at all.

I agree with almost everything you say. I don't think Government should treat civil unions or marriages any different as Marriage should not be a Government institution. Stephen Harper suggested gays get equal treatment through a special Union. In my opinion that should have been fine, also I don't think any civil servents or Pastors would be against the Government giving gay couples recognition through a civil union.

Its when you call that Gay Union a gay marriage and then force pastors or civil servents to marry gay couples. Thats when you get problems. Marriage is considered a sacred religious institution by most organised religions. You run into trouble over something as stupid as a name. What does marriage mean to a gay couple that a union doesn't? Why couldn't the gay movement settle for equal treatment instead of having to persecute those who believe differently?

Anyways yah I agree with almost everything you said!

No, just the masochistic.

Both Yes and No.

Marriage isn't a right, however it does become a right the moment government decides to use it as the method to delvier benefits to a committed pair of individuals or uses it to establish familial rights.

As it is now, i'd say marriage is a right in the US.

If the US dropped all tax breaks, and legal benefits for married spouses, I would then say it is NOT a right.

Easy solution... change government marriage to civil unions... for everyone.

Also worth noting... some churches and religious denominations are for gay marriage. It being illegal is an infringement on THEIR freedom of religion.

Get government out of marriage all together and let each church and religion decide what they want marriage to be.

Homophobes are homophobes.

OT: No one can sue to get married if they did not find the right partner. Having found the right partner, everyone has the right to choose to get married.

The problem with marriage is that it uses a religious term for a legal equivalent....

if you had marriage and civil union from the start then no one would have cared if gays got civilly united...but that's way too late.

Some great replies, minus the OP which seems to have a lot of 'facts' in the op completely wrong.