2011-01-17, 04:38 PM
As far as the State is concerned, "marriage" is just shorthand for a bunch of contracts, that entitles a couple to certain rights (which vary between jurisdictions). A married couple are usually considered each other's "next of kin", meaning all sorts of things about automatic power of attorney, default inheritance, shared parenthood, shared finances, etc. And when people divorce, this is again shorthand for nullification of said contracts and a new set coming into play.
Like with the DADT (that didn't actually prevent gays from serving, only made their lives harder), having gay marriage "forbidden" doesn't actually prevent gays from being married de facto, it just means they have a lot more paperwork to go through to make sure they get all the rights and duties of a married couple. Allowing the State to register these marriages will make things much simpler for the gay couples and also for the authorities and whoever else cares about people being married as an indication that they share lives ("family discount" at the zoo?).
Like with the DADT (that didn't actually prevent gays from serving, only made their lives harder), having gay marriage "forbidden" doesn't actually prevent gays from being married de facto, it just means they have a lot more paperwork to go through to make sure they get all the rights and duties of a married couple. Allowing the State to register these marriages will make things much simpler for the gay couples and also for the authorities and whoever else cares about people being married as an indication that they share lives ("family discount" at the zoo?).