Here’s a semi-bizarre, though favorable, editorial on marriage equality in the Orange County Register:
Our preference would be for the government not to be involved in marriage, the most fundamental of institutions in a civil society. Why two people who want to be married should be required to get a license from the state is something of a mystery. Marriage existed long before the California or U.S. governments came into being and will continue long after they have been consigned to history. Whether a marriage is valid should be up to the people involved and the churches, synagogues, mosques or other religious institutions that choose to perform them or not.
Can the editorialist really think the reason for state licensing of marriage is mysterious? Simply having the marriage recorded by the state makes the process worthwhile — certainly to the participants, but also to the state, which must also deal with inheritance, divorce, and other processes that marriage law provides rules for handling.
More naiveté:
Over time same-sex couples will find, as has been the case in Massachusetts, where such marriages have been legal for four years, (and as heterosexual couples know all too well) that marriage is not always easy. Married people disagree about all kinds of things, from money to recreational preferences, and have to find ways to work out their differences.
Gee…does the writer really think same-sex couples have been spared this because up to now there hasn’t been a government stamp of approval on our relationships?
