[mikesmad]

Every "legal benefit" you list can be bestowed upon non-married persons with contracts and power of attorney except one notable exception - Social Security. That's right, the government run program. The answer to that is get rid of Social Security and allow everyone to have private savings for retirement (or none). Once it is in the private marketplace then you can designate who gets those funds (if they exist) upon your death, just by putting a name in a box.

In reality all of those benefits enjoyed by married people are just an implied contract we "sign" by getting married.

[gridlock]

BTW, mikesmad and governmentshrinker are right.

Get government out of the marriage business, before it defines marriage out of existance.

Given that the government has botched the job in every other area of human endeavor it has been involved in, I wonder why so many people want it central to the institution of marriage?

[Hodar]

In reality all of those benefits enjoyed by married people are just an implied contract we "sign" by getting married.

And is there any reason that gay couples can't "sign" the same type of contract? If people have a problem with the word "marriage", maybe they could call it "bonding" or some other PC term. While I may not agree with their lifestyle and choices, I do think they have a valid arguement, as long as we are talking 'equality' and NOT "protected status".