Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
None of those things in your 25 point list should be prohibited to a same sex couple. If such privileges are extended to an officially designated heterosexual pairing, there can be little or no reasonable grounds NOT to extend the same benefits to an officially designated homosexual or lesbian couple -- or for that matter a platonic couple. Any pair of consenting adults should be able to form such a union.

The problem for the religious is that marriage (at least to them) is more than these civil benefits. It represents a sanctified joining that is sacramental and spiritual as well as legal and physical. Since many (most?) faiths do not consider same-sex unions to be sanctifiable, they oppose same-sex marriage on that basis. A few view homosexuals as actively sinning against the will of God, making such unions not only unsanctifiable but actively blasphemous.

Civil unions required of all who would claim/enjoy the legal benefits of such a union and marriage reserved to the dictates of the various faith groups would seem to be an equitable re-structuring. But it won't happen that way. Hardliners on both sides of the issue abhor such a compromise and want victory thrown in the face of their opposition. A bit too much "so NyahQ take that!" going both ways if you ask me.
Really good post on the insights of the mindset of the religious opposition. The problem I see with the anti gay marriage religious viewpoint is that, as mentioned before, the institution of marriage has become SO watered down from whatever it used to mean spiritually and religiously, that even though they may have a point about sanctification in THEIR eyes, it simply is hard to see for all others. The civil institution of marriage with all it's benefits has basically become what "marriage" is for the majority of people.

And yet, despite this, the word marriage still has enough of a "meaning" behind it that as you anticipate, same sex couples will simply not accept having "unions" with all the same benefits except for the name "marriage". And I can more than understand their "separate but equal" criticism of it...