(no subject)

[ramtops]

it's very good to see gay couples getting the same rights as heterosexual married couples (see Guardian link).

but where are the rights for straight, unmarried couples. I have many friends living in long term unmarried relationships, and this is discrimination, pure and simple.

what's the justification? The "sanctity of marriage"?

Comments

[ias.livejournal.com]

They must have the right to choose to enter into such a relationship. If you want to think up a new name to seperate civil and religious marriages so that gays don't "violate the sanctity of marriage", that would probably cut out a lot of the confusion for everyone.

I don't see why civil marriage should be given a different name. Isn't civil marriage clear enough? I am an atheist and am in civil marriage with my atheist husband and I'm bloody well not going let anyone insist change that. Personally I would be far happier if any couple, whatever gender, were able to also have a civil marriage. It would also be far easier legally, if civil marriage were opened up to all couples - think of all those laws where spouse will have to be changed to 'spouse or civil partner'.

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

I largely agree, but I can see how people can get upset about it. While I would say to homophobic bible bashers who think gays are in league with Satan, "get on with living your own perfect life and let God deal with them."

But if a change of termonology made things easier for people to accept, I wouldn't be opposed to it, providing it isn't one word for hetrosexuals and another for homosexuals.

On the other hand if a huge number of laws (and application forms, etc) have to be changed to accomodate it, leading to people being denied rights because a particular law hasn't been updated yet, it makes much more sense to stick with the currently accepted language.

What it comes down to is the blurring of the civil and religious marriages. If these were made separate, I think people would understand the difference and become generally more tolerant.

In Ireland we have our own special brand of bigotry. Until recently if you applied for social welfare and when asked your religioin (why do they even need to know?), if you said anything other than one of the mainstream religions the official would tick the box for "lapsed Catholic".