Monday, March 09, 2009

From my mouth to Justice Chin's ear

A justice on the California Supreme Court seems to have taken my suggestion to heart that the government should get out of the marriage business:

What if California got out of the marriage business altogether? What if the state merely licensed or just recognized private, contractual civil unions with all the benefits of marriage, and couples went to the religious or private institution of their choice to sanctify their vows? Would that resolve the legal differences between Proposition 8 and the state Supreme Court's 2008 ruling that gay and lesbian couples were entitled to the same marital rights as heterosexuals? These were the questions Justice Ming W. Chin posited during oral arguments on the proposition Thursday before the high court. To which both sides responded: Why, yes, it would.

As reasonable as this sounds, my guess is that the same right-wingers who claim that civil unions are just as good as marriage would be up in arms if anybody suggested that their state-sanctioned marriages be converted to state-licensed civil unions.

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