Gay Marriage in the News Again

I heard on the news today that gays are suing the state of Connecticut for the right to marry. Connecticut provides for same sex civil unions but gays claim that civil unions are inferior and a violation of their civil rights.

Since 'marriage' as we traditionally define it has both legal and spiritual dimensions, I have a proposal. I think that states should provide only for civil unions (legal rights) regardless of gender and leave 'marriage' (spiritual commitment) to religion. Government's concern is for legal equity in the marriage contract and to insure that any offspring are cared for. The government's concerns are for the stability of society. The spiritual bond and the "status" attached to that is more of a religious concern and should be left to religion. Under this proposal everyone would be treated equally under law even if it is only a union of convenience (yes, people do marry for convenience). It would confer all the legal rights without impinging on anyone's religion since everyone got exactly the same rights of civil union. Those who wished to "marry" would then deal separately with their religion and any battles over how God views the union would take place in the religious community, where they belong, not in the courts.