--- Wojtek wrote:
But I explicitly argued for a two-stage
> approach to ANY union, both gay and het: the civil union stage
> sanctioned by courts, followed by the optional moral union
> sanctioned
> by whatever moral authority one chooses.
Well, the thing is, that's what we have aleady, just for heterosexual relationships.
"Civil marriage" is what the state issues, giving couples the legal rights, remedies and entitlements. What is missing in the culture war is the distinction, the reminder in BIG BOLD LETTERS to the rest of the population, that this civil marriage is separate from what the religious institutions call "holy marriage." The assumption that has been made by policy wonks on both sides of the argument is that the American public is incapable of making that distinction. The social conservatives are, in fact, counting on that assumption.
- Deborah R.
===== “If anybody can come back from the dead and write about it, it’s George Plimpton.” -Kurt Vonnegut, toasting the late literary legend at the Paris Review’s 50th-anniversary bash