| I think that ALL of the issues relating to property rights, custody of children, taxes and so on could be easily worked through with explicit contracts. Indeed many marriages nowadays are initiated with a pre-nup contract anyway. The implied contracts in marriage are not really a necessary adjunct. I would like for gov to stay out of marriage in toto and just leave it up those who are doing the deed.
As to the contracts: there would be no need to get the lawyers involved in a simple marriage contract. Boilerplate would suffice in most instances I'd wager.
And from my viewpoint, then gays could say, "We're married!" and eyebrows would raise, but there would be nothing legal to be done. The controversy in the conservative areas would go away. It would be acknowledged that it isn't a public matter. Sorta like what you read or who you pray to. Not the government's business. But by the same token, I refuse to have the government REdefine what constitutes marriage. Especially at the instance of a minority. Marriage is an enormous boulder with its definition buried in the sediments of the ages. The definition will not be budged.
"Arms in the hands of the citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of the country, the overthrow of tyranny or private self-defense." -- John Adams |