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Two bills -- one in the Senate and one in the House of Delegates -- have been introduced to legalize gay marriage in Maryland, guaranteeing a contentious fight on the floors of both houses. There are over 40 sponsors -- almost 25% -- in the House, and nine in the Senate.
Personally, I think this argument will generate much more heat than light. But even more, I think it is a waste of time.
A waste of time?
Yes, because I don't think government should be involved in marriage at all. I don't think government should offer ANY benefits or preferences to married couples under ANY circumstances. I don't think married couples' Social Security should be linked, I don't think there should be tax deductions for married couples, and I don't think there should be marriage licenses. I think that all of the contract aspects of marriage -- buying a house together, visitation rights in the hospital, etc -- should be able to be settled through standard contract and tort law.
I don't think that marital status should ever be a consideration on any government action or any business action. I don't think auto insurance companies should be able to offer discounts based on marital status. I don't think government or business should be allowed to collect statistics on marital status (or race, or religion, or creed, etc.)
I think that "marriage" should be solely a religious rite, and not a legal status.
I don't think that suddenly allowing gay marriages will destroy marriage and its sanctity.
Married people have done that all themselves. In Maryland, marriage is a joke. There is de facto no-fault divorce in this state. There is no shame really tied to divorce, or adultery, or even for that matter, spousal abuse. Once two people decide to separate, its basically all over but the lawyer's fees.
We aren't protecting marriage by opposing gay marriage. We are protecting a hollow shell. Marriage is an accoutrement, a "rite of passage", a goal on a to-do list. It is not an enforced committment. If it was, divorce would be harder, more punishing, and more painful. If we really thought -- as a society -- that marriage so fundamentally important, we would not let people enter into it so lightly OR leave it so easily.
It's harder to get a driver's license in Maryland than a marriage license. And the penalties for breaking the driving laws are far tougher than breaking the marriage laws.
What does that tell you about where our priorities are?
Government should get out of marriage. They have done nothing but cause it irreparable harm. How a man and woman feel about each other -- or a man and man or a woman and woman -- is irrelevant to their relationship to government. Government should relate to individual citizens -- and get out of the business of how those citizens relate to each other.