None of our personal sexual preferences are very relevant here.
I’m not suggesting civil unions be expanded to more than two people. I think that is a separate issue. I think that one must ask first if any person is discriminated against by existing laws. I perceive polygamous unions as being more in most cases in the direction of creating new laws. Man (homo sapiens) is by nature polygamous (see the science referred to earlier), and so I would not be surprised if laws to come to reflect that over time. Laws need to reflect reality, not legislate arbitrary morality from the point of view of one aribrary religious viewpoint. Polygyny was tolerated in the Old Testament, and clearly the Jewish people had children who somehow survived that. In the New Testament, Jesus never preached against polygamy, so it’s not a sin from Jesus’ perspective. It is still not uncommon in Polynesia, Africa, and South America. So right there we have contradictions between various religions and cultures, and current law favoring some religions over others. Is enforcing one religious or cultural viewpoint over another really the best function of civil government, and in the interests of all people, even if it contradicts the religion or culture of some?
Religious differences of opinion are often matters of interpretation or semantics, and ultimately tend to be settled by wars because of the intractability of the proponents of religious views (”we” are right because “we” know morality better than “you”).
Wars can decimate men, women and children indiscriminately, and have done so in the historical past.
Religious wars are often nasty, brutish, and can last a very long time.
For two thousand years marriage has been between a man and a woman. That is OUR culture. Let’s keep our culture. If you want to live in Pago Pago in a grass hut, go ahead but keep our culture as it is. It has a great set of values when people actually follow them. If you want to experiment with other exotic lifestyles do so but leave the country first.
You don’t have children, do you?