Civil Unions for All Americans, Weddings for Religious Ones

Gay marriage is only bad because the people of America have forgotten to separate church and state. People feel very strongly about their religions, as they should, yet all people need to be treated equally in our country. This is what our forefathers had in mind when they specified the separation of church and state. The two must always coincide, but one should never govern the other.

Gay marriages are not the only abuses to the sanctity of marriage: there are fraudulent marriages for economic and even legal statuses, marriages between heterosexual atheists, and the list goes on. Gay marriage is, however, the most obvious offender, and the offense that prompts the discussion and even voting on the issue.

Civil unions should be recognized by the government of the United States, and not marriage. Marriage should be recognized as a religious ceremony sanctioned by the church of that faith and that ceremony should not be altered to conform to a wider audience than the subscribers of that faith.

By taking “marriage” out of civil unions, we are simply taking “church” out of state. The marriage should be independent of a civil union, giving it the flexibility to conform to the needs of most of the people of the United States, rather than subscribers of faiths with marriage ceremonies.

Everyone living in the United States deserves the right to freedom and happiness, and nobody has the right to take that away from anyone! If a gay couple loves each other and makes a lifelong commitment to each other, they should have the ability to form a civil union and receive the same benefits as other couples in civil unions, without affecting the sanctity of sacred, religious ceremonies.