Should US govt no longer recognize any marriages?

Question

Everyone is fighting over marriage and that g**s should not marry while at same time we allow pedophiles and transgender to marry (yeah I don't get it either).

Anyway why doesn't government just abolish all legal recognition of marriage? That would make it nothing but a social/religious ceremony that has no legal standing.

We can then setup a system where adults can become legally partnered to obtain all the rights+authority we currently give to married couples.

Wouldn't that be fair? Wouldn't that allow any religion to marry anyone it approved of and not those who do not. That way you would go to govt and apply for partnership and then if wanted have seperate social function of the wedding.

Answer 1

I've thought the same for a long time now. The government should not be in the "marrying" business. As you suggested, they should only be responsible for certifying partnerships from a legal perspective to make the partners eligible for the legal benefits attached to any union. That's not to say the government shouldn't legislate to protect the innocent, i.e., children and other innocents, from being forced into sexual relationships, but beyond that, they should just stay out.

Let the churches/synagogues/mosques... whatever... decide who is "married" in the eyes of their respective religion.

Answer 2

No.  Everyone is not fighting over marriage.   The current controversy is no different than what we saw in the mid sixties over interracial marriage.  See: Loving v. Virginia

Answer 3

Are you saying because g**s can't marry we should destroy our society all together?   I don't think you've given your solution enough thought.

Answer 4

I actually like this idea.  While I feel it would not sit well as nicely as some alternatives, I think its feasible. I don't understand people whom are against homosexual marriages.  If you think not allowing them to have legal marriage is going to prevent them from what occurs naturally to them, then you need to wake up and smell the roses.  Humans have a natural desire and want to connect.  Everyone has different interests.   Two guys or two girls getting married isn't preventing anyone from having a nice life of their own. And if it does.. it means you have no life.

Answer 5

Well let's just look at that more closely. If there are no marriages then there can be no divorces. No divorces would put a lot of lawyers out of business. Putting any lawyer out of business could be a good thing.

If there's no such thing as marriage then companies might like that. There would be no requirement for them to offer benefits to dependents. If there's no marriage there aren't any dependents. Everyone is a separate entity.

Of course there is the issue of what status do the offspring have. That's a whole different can of worms.

Face it. The only reason homosexuals want their 'union' to be recognized is so they can demand more from their employers. It's purely a money thing.

To prove my point anything can be jointly purchased by individuals, property, houses, cars, you name it and they have joint ownership. So what do they need the 'marriage' for? What does it give them they can't already have?

Answer 6

Hmmmm, maybe.  It is, after all, a legal contract between two people.  

However, I think the neocons and right wing wackos have more than enough to say in our lives, I think giving them a little more control could be a scary thing.

Answer 7

No, that's ridiculous - about as ridiculous as formalized same-s*x marriages.

Society has the right to create conditions that maximize its chance to continue, and prosper.  Across all religions, cultures and historical periods, people have decided that, all things being equal, children are best raised by their biological mother and father; societies have therefore given the union of a man and a woman special recognition and support.

The issue is not straight and g*y: it's men and women.  They are different.  Equal in the eyes of the law, but not identical or interchangeable - they're a matched set!  The same folks who claim that conservatives "ignore science" appear to want to legislate away Biology 101.

Traditional marriage is not discrimination; it's common sense.  We need more of it in our society, not less.