I tend to piss off both sides of the aisle with my view on this topic. I take a lot more libertarian stance than the militant left wing hate groups and the misguided social conservatives. I am going to do this a little backward. I am going to start with the ending and then give you my reasoning behind my stance.
The Stance: Marriage should not be regulated by any federal, state or local government. This includes licensing to taxes.
The Reason: The big three religions all believe that God created marriage when He joined Adam and Eve. Thus, nearly everyone of religion believes marriage is the first religious ceremony and institution that God created AND performed. To force anyone of any of these religions to recognize any form of marriage outside of their beliefs is a violation of the First Amendment.
The Solution: Wipe the word marriage from all laws and regulations (including the tax code) and replace it with a legal contract that is secular in nature. Allow anyone to enter into a legally binding contract that is domestic in nature and leave the word marriage, the ceremony marriage and the institution marriage to the social constructs (read religions) that wish to adhere to them without persecution and without being forced to recognize a bastardized version of their beliefs as a valid law.
The Stance: Marriage should not be regulated by any federal, state or local government. This includes licensing to taxes.
The Reason: The big three religions all believe that God created marriage when He joined Adam and Eve. Thus, nearly everyone of religion believes marriage is the first religious ceremony and institution that God created AND performed. To force anyone of any of these religions to recognize any form of marriage outside of their beliefs is a violation of the First Amendment.
The Solution: Wipe the word marriage from all laws and regulations (including the tax code) and replace it with a legal contract that is secular in nature. Allow anyone to enter into a legally binding contract that is domestic in nature and leave the word marriage, the ceremony marriage and the institution marriage to the social constructs (read religions) that wish to adhere to them without persecution and without being forced to recognize a bastardized version of their beliefs as a valid law.