[Henrietta]

"Actually there are quite a few freepers who aren't on the "save marriage by having the government regulate it" bandwagon. Personally, I just want the government totally out of the marriage business -- straight, gay, polygamous, whatever -- it's none of the government's business."

I was waiting for someone to say that! After all, what business is it of the Governments with whom I contract marriage, or with whom I sign any other contract? Since when did marriage become a government-sanctioned event instead of a church-sanctioned event?

[NutCrackerBoy]

Since when did marriage become a government-sanctioned event instead of a church-sanctioned event?

Oh, right around the Middle Ages. Wherever there has been a secular state, it has created laws to protect young women from abandonment. Stable coupling, i.e. family units being the building blocks of civilization, requires us to point guns at the heads of men to do the right thing by their wives and children.