Have you ever heard anyone ever give a single 'coherent' reason to be against marriage equality?

[JDPriestly]

38. In fact, as I have posted in the past, the word "marriage" has two meanings.

The first is the legal meaning -- marriage means a relationship that is registered with and recognized by the government. Couples obtain certain legal advantages (and disadvantages especially upon dissolution of a marriage) by completing a legal marriage. The legal marriage can be witnessed and officiated by any person authorized by the appropriate government entity. Some states recognize common law marriages requiring a couple to live together as husband and wife for a certain number of years. If they can prove that they have lived together for the requisite number of years, their marriage is recognized as legally binding.

The second meaning of "marriage" is the religious status and rite. Couples may be legally married without being married in a religious rite or without having their marriage recognized by a church. If, for example, a Catholic is divorced and wants to remarry but cannot get the approval of the church for his remarriage, he may choose to enter into a legal or civil marriage that is neither officiated or approved by his church.

People sometimes do not realize that when they marry in a church, the religious official, pastor, rabbi or priest who "marries" them has them fill out forms that the religious official files with the appropriate government agency. When the marriage is performed and made official in that way, the two meanings of marriage are combined. But the only marriage that counts for the government is the civil marriage, the registration of the marriage and the forms that are filled out and provided to the government. The religious marriage is just tradition or a matter of faith.

A couple can marry in a church and not file the papers. But then they don't benefit from the advantages of being legally married or suffer from the disadvantages. If a couple is not married and one of them dies, the other will not get survivor Social Security benefits. On the other hand, if the couple decides to split up they don't have to get a divorce.

So, the argument about marriage being a religious sacrament is true -- but the problem is that marriage also has the meaning of a civil agreement. Churches have the right to restrict religious marriages to whomever they wish. A Jewish rabbi cannot be compelled by law to marry Catholics, for example. But the government does not have the right (in my opinion) to deny a couple the right to marry based on race or gender or religious faith.