Civil unions for all. Marriage in a church if you want to

In a previous blog entry on “Mr. Conservative” Barry Goldwater, Sr. I explained how a truly principled conservative was a staunch defender of LGBTI rights well before that position was popular — even with many liberals. That sparked an exchange of ideas between a conservative friend and myself.

4 Comments

  1. The distinction needs to be between civil marriage and sacramental marriage, not between civil union and marriage. The government is in the civil marriage business; churches are in the sacramental marriage business.

  2. Jump together three times over your sword, or broom-handle, works just fine for me.

    ‘Course, as thrice divorced, what do I know? Other than maybe the government… shouldn’t be in the marriage business.

  3. Here’s the problem with that argument:

    The US government has been in the business of marriage, and because of that thousands of federal laws and hundreds of laws in each state all place special privileges on people who are married. Because of the way our country is setup, you can’t just pass one law that says in all places in federal and state law, the word “marriage” will be replaced with “marriage or civil union”.

    Here’s the counter-argument: My church believes (and has believed for over 50 years) that homosexual marriage is allowed in the eyes of God and is blessed by their ceremonies around such. Tell me, why is my religious freedom being curtailed because of the beliefs of others? Why is my religious marriage not seen as legal, when the same priest, reciting the same vows, in the same church to a heterosexual couple is seen as legal? It’s not the church or the priest.

    Personally, I’d be all about changing every law to read civil unions. But you have states now trying to over-turn civil unions even, and DOMA being the law of the land, I don’t see that being any easier than fighting for marriage equality.

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