The only real legal purpose I see in marriage is in establishing guardianship of and responsibility for children. Granted, that whole issue is a quagmire anyway, but it is convenient to have some sort of automatic designation of who is responsible for minor members of a family.
The other issue is similar, inasmuch as it has to do with establishing a kinship relationship between unrelated people. There are an awful lot of things in our society that are specific to families or next-of-kin, and adoption and marriage are the only ways we've got to include someone by default into a family.
Maybe that's the solution. Gays should ADOPT their partners...
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timeasmymeasure
Re: What about...
Date: 2004-02-12 08:17 pm (UTC)The other issue is similar, inasmuch as it has to do with establishing a kinship relationship between unrelated people. There are an awful lot of things in our society that are specific to families or next-of-kin, and adoption and marriage are the only ways we've got to include someone by default into a family.
Maybe that's the solution. Gays should ADOPT their partners...