What to do with Gay Marriage, or my take on CA Prop 8

For those of you who don't know, California Proposition 8 was a ballot initiative put forward a while back that specifically makes marriage between a man and a woman. Obviously, this caused something of a stir, and opponents of the measure are currently taking Prop 8 through the court system to challenge it.

Both sides are fighting the wrong battle.

The gay marriage debate has been raging for over twenty years now, and it has made only minor steps towards being resolved. The reason for this is simple. There are two institutions of marriage in this country, a religious institution, set forward in sacraments of the various religious creeds Americans follow, and a legal institution, set forward in laws that vary from state to state, and provide certain rights and privileges to those married under it. Religious people want to keep their sacraments pure, while gay people want the rights provided to them by a legal marriage. But since both institutions have the same name, the religious people don't want gay marriage, and the gay people demand it.

There is a simple way to deal with this issue, that most people on both sides would likely find acceptable. Get rid of the legal institution of marriage. Take all marriages, be they a man and a woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or any combination or group that you can think of and make them civil unions.

Now before you jump on my back, think about it for a second. Even in the case of a marriage between a man and a woman, getting married in a church doesn't mean anything in the eyes of the law, unless you get a piece of paper from the state that says you are legally married. All I'm suggesting is changing the letterhead at the top of that piece of paper, and making the legal institution we've known for centuries Civil Unions, rather than Marriages, and opening it up to all couples or arrangements.

Those currently married under the law would not see any change in their legal standing. All that would change is that people not currently able to marry under the law would be able to get the same rights and privileges as those married under the law. That includes health benefits, visitation rights, and other such things that gay couples do not have now. All these civil unions would be equal, conveying the same rights and privileges. This eliminates the problems of discriminating against people based on sexual orientation in regards to the rights couples have, which will make gays and other such couples happy.

This plan will also keep the majority of the religious types happy, because their sacraments will be safe, and beyond the reach of legal assault. Since churches decide who they will allow to be married under their sacraments, marriage will be safe. If two women find a church that will marry them, that's fine, but since that would be that church's take on their own sacraments, that is hardly an assault by the gay rights groups on the sacraments of marriage, is it?

Under this plan, everyone wins. What's the problem with that?