I have only skimmed this thread. If this point has been made earlier, I presume that posters more committed to this issue than I can point me in the proper direction. Alternatively, I could be ignored.
A Case Against Gay Marriage
… but not domestic partnerships.
Today marriage is, among other things, a contract between two different genders. If one believes in the Chromosome Planets shtick, this fact will be relevant during divorce cases.
By way of example:
IANAL, but my understanding is that courts presume that infidelity is grounds for divorce, in the absence of evidence for an “open relationship”.
This presumption may not be reasonable in the case of male couples. I’m not saying that male gays can’t be sexually monogamous with another. I’m saying that enough male couples voluntary choose nonexclusive relationships so that it may not be fair to assume that infidelity is grounds for divorce, in the absence of an explicit over-ridding contract.
(Isn’t that what marriage is, a standard contract that can be over-ridden with a pre- or post-nup? Ok, admittedly, there are other elements to this particular social institution.)
More generally, it may make sense to have a different set of divorce precedents for MF, MM, and FF couples.
I propose that we call these 3 sorts of contracts, a “Marriage Contract”, a “Domestic Partnership I Contract” and a “Domestic Partnership II Contract”. Naturally, codicils would be permitted to over-ride any of these presumptions.
Weakness in my argument: We could call all 3 sorts of contracts, “Marriage”. But it seems silly to make an issue of labels, as opposed to substance. At any rate, since there is a necessity for setting up 3 separate precedents, it seems reasonable to apply different labels to these domestic arrangements.