And the next step should be a complete separation

[MadHound]

35. Which is why you are required to sign a marriage license

I signed mine right after the wedding. No religion prevented me from signing it. Granted, I am in a hetrosexual marriage. However if I were in a homosexual relationship, it wouldn't be the church that is preventing me from signing that marriage license, but actually the state. State laws, state regulations. If I were in a gay relationship, my partner and I could go to city hall right now, looking to be married, and guess what, the judge couldn't marry us because the laws of my state, and this country, would prevent me from getting married.

Now then, I grant you, religious institutions in this country wield a lot of influence on whether or not those laws are adapted, or not. But still and all, religious organizations don't write those laws, they don't pass those laws. That is all done by the state.

What we need to change are the laws, not how people choose to celebrate their wedding, or how their wedding is conducted. Then all people, gay or straight, could go out and get married in whatever fashion they choose, and then do like I did, sign that marriage license in the presence of family and friends, making it all nice, legal and official. No need to traipse down to city hall, no need to pay yet another fee.