Reply #15: Open your eyes. You are close to

[Brianboru]

the answer. Marriage is viewed from a religious perspective. Mark 10:6-9 “"But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." You cannot deny the religious link. Let that continue, for those who want it. But a religious marriage will mean nothing from a civil perspective. No rights. No protections. Let’s really separate church and state. The only way ANY couple gets legal protection is with a secular civil union. We re-define religion out of a civil union.

Religion should have nothing to do with marriage, from a legal perspective. We have allowed that to happen. If we move to a purely secular civil union, with all the legal protections of a current “marriage”, we take religion out of the equation. Religious organizations would not be allowed to perform a civil union. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. Who cares what the Baptists consider to be a marriage. Except the Baptists. Before or after the preacher “marries” the couple, they need to get a civil union to get any civil protections. Case closed. Unless you insist on the Baptists recognizing your union. Why do you care what the Baptists think?