Charlie,

Taking your system, I would say that homosexuals have the same right as heterosexuals – they can Marry.

Marriage is an ancient custom in which people of the opposite sex are joined legally and usually religiously.

If members of the same sex want to create some legal device that recognizes the union of two homosexuals, then they can go to the legislature and lobby for it. I see no natural right for the government to sanction such a union – in fact, there is no natural right to government sanctioned marriage either. It takes dishonest wordsmithing to construe Marriage to be just the legal and religious union of two people of undefined sex. Without such dishonesty, no illegal discrimination occurs.

Put simply: gays want something that does not exist. Furthermore, they insist that it be called marriage, which fans the flames, because it redefines marriage.

It is typical of the gay rights movement to go for the extreme, and use all sorts of nastiness to get their way. In this case, SSM is the extreme – in fact it is a meaningless term since the SS and the M are incompatible. They would do much better seeking various protections that come with marriage, if there are any that cannot be produced simply with contracts.

I have not yet heard why gay “marriage” is important.

What are the practical benefits of SSM’s and why does it have to be called Marriage?