The State should get out of the marriage business entirely. I’d rather have it eliminated than have it redefined like this. It’s meaningless now. You want to have kids with someone? Draw up a contract.
If this stands, then Christians should refuse to get married legally. They should insist on a church wedding, and then - in the eyes of the law - live together.
You could get a court order to change your name and live as common-law man & wife...but refuse to be legally married, since a legal marriage becomes an abomination.
Asinine argument, and I'm sick and tired of the lazy libertarianism that breeds it. Does the existence of marriage somehow obilgate how others see and behave toward the couple? I think you will admit that it does. Society, including the state, must recognize marriage because of what it is and what it means: pretection from testimony against a spouse, inheritance, obligation to support and not abandon, just to name a few. Who enforces these understood obligations? Just the couple who enter into them? A religious group which performs the union? By what right?
The state doesn't create marriage any more than it creates the children that result from such unions. It doesn't even regulate marriage; it is up to the people involved how to conduct themselves and even how the marriage is performed - there is no state "liturgy" or magic words. The "license" fee is a nominal, one-time administrative cost, which doesn't even cover the real "cost" of what it takes to get everything filed and finalized. What kind of way is THAT to run a "business?"
We have a winner!