Contracts, marriage and God

The movement for same-sex marriage has delivered a series of judicial body-blows this past week. The New York Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state's constitution did not provide gay couples a right to the institution. Shortly afterward, the Supreme Court of Georgia reinstated an anti-same-sex-marriage constitutional amendment. Then, on Tuesday, Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court -- the court whose ruling led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the Bay State -- ruled that the legislature could ban it through a constitutional amendment. Ouch.\nLikewise in Indiana, the legislature is moving toward amending our state's constitution -- a bill to that effect passed the General Assembly in 2005, and Hoosier voters could see the issue in a referendum as soon as 2008.\nWhen that day comes, for the sake of our society's freedoms, we recommend you vote against it.\nMarriage is an institution in both the religious and secular spheres, and, between those two, the meaning does not perfectly overlap. In the eyes of the government, marriage is nothing more than a contract between two consenting adults. Period. That contract guarantees rights and privileges such as status as next-of-kin in hospital visits and medical decisions, joint insurance policies, inheritance, guaranteed benefits linked to Social Security and Medicare, wrongful death benefits and bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner, among hundreds of additional benefits attached to that legal contract.\nA legal marriage does not need a church, a synagogue or other house of worship. A legal marriage only entails a valid marriage license from the courthouse. A justice of the peace can officiate. A ship's captain can officiate. Go to Las Vegas and Elvis can officiate. But God has no say in who should willingly enter that contract.\nIf you want a marriage to be blessed in the eyes of your God, then you can go to a place of worship and seek that blessing. If you don't believe same-sex marriages are sacred, then don't participate in a congregation that agrees to bless them. But leave God out of the equation when it comes to who can marry in the eyes of the state.\nThe current push to defend the "sanctity of marriage" is a cover for religious doctrine to rule over secular society, it's a challenge to our way of life -- gay, straight or other.\nIf the anti-same-sex-marriage activists want to continue campaigning for the sanctity of marriage and family, perhaps they should focus on the more pervasive threat of "deviant" heterosexuals. For example, the ones who sing along to Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" or The Pussycat Dolls' "Loosen Up My Buttons" or any 50 Cent song; or the men who purchase Russian or Ukrainian women online at GetMarriedNow.com; or the growing number of clubs for married swingers (there are six in Indiana).\nBut on the legal front, when two consenting adults in a loving relationship wish to have the state recognize that relationship, it is not up to your God or mine to legitimize it.