As many of you have probably heard on the news, Maine recently held a vote, the first question was an effort by opponents of same-sex marriage in Maine to use Maine’s People’s Veto process to overturn “An Act to Promote Marriage Equality and Affirm Religious Freedom”. [balletpedia] The veto passed 53% to 47% making same-sex marriage illegal in Maine. I really only kept up with this because of my friends and family from Maine, especially those on Facebook. I would say a large majority of my Facebook friends from Maine were against this Veto — supporting the “No” vote — keeping same-sex marriage legal.
There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this vote and a lot of disappointment from my friends and family after the votes were counted. But I truly feel like Question #1 was the wrong question to ask. The real question that should be asked is, “Should the government have any authority in deciding who can and who cannot be married?”
In my opinion, the government has no say in who can be married. When I think of marriage, I think of it in Christian terms. I am married to my wife before God – not before the government. If the government one day decided that my marriage to Kati was invalid (or illegal) it would not make me any less married to her. I think this entire movement is completely flawed because it is based on a false idea. Because for 200 years married people have given the government the right to determine who is and who isn’t married. But the government does not care about what “marriage” is… to the government, “marriage” is a tax status, a certificate, a formal partnership. Basically to the government, a marriage is just like a Limited Liability Company.
In this post, I do not plan on taking a position on whether or not same-sex marriage is acceptable. But I do believe, in a country that claims that all people should be afforded the same rights, than same-sex couples should be given the same rights as all other couples. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to fight to stop the government from recognizing “marriage” at all. If the government wants to keep track of the tax status of formally united couples, then there should be a “certificate of unity” (or whatever they want to call it) given to any couple who chooses to do so and the government can determine who is and who is not qualified to get such a certificate.
This way, anyone who wishes to “marry” can do so before God, on His terms. This might not work at all, but I think it is the best solution. You can campaign to Republicans who want smaller government and you can campaign to homosexuals who want equal rights. What do you guys think about this as a possible solution?
I think this is a great idea except for the fact that some people are not religious at all and are only married by a justice of the peace. There for if you take the government out of it completely then non religious people would not be considered married but just as “certified of unity” couples. I think the term marriage even without God represents a commitment between two individuals to be and work together as a whole towards a long and happy life together regardless of religion and that term married is sacred to some even without God. I do agree that to the government it is just a tax status and that they should have no rights at all to decide who should get married and when or where either. I think the vote should strictly be to not allow government to decide who can and can’t be married like you say and when the question is stated that way you may find less ignorance from people who are scared by commercials about certain things and they will look at it more as wanting to have the rights that they really deserve to have as citizens in a supposed free country with equal rights.