Have marriage, as a legal institution conferring rights and responsibilities on a couple, be a purely civil contract, just like buying a house or obtaining citizenship.
I had mentioned this as a possible solution in an earlier post, but Wendy has made the point much clearer than I did. 52% of voters in Califoria have voted to eliminate the right of same sex partners to get married. I wonder how people would feel about eliminating their own "marriage" and calling it a "civil union" or "domestic partnership" instead. Legally sanctioning all unions as domestic partnerships would preserve marriage as a religious ceremony, and it seems that should suffice for opponents of same-sex marriage.
I also wonder how those opponents view religions who allow same sex marriage. For example, the Unitarian Church was active in the fight against Prop 8. The Southern California division of the United Methodist Church went against the wishes of the rest of their church divisions and performed gay weddings. Are those religions "wrong" because of their tolerance?
