[Azred]

As long as two people have attained the age of consent (usually 18), are not already legally bound in a marriage contract to someone else, are able to make decisions for themselves, and are not close blood relatives (for medical reasons) then those two people should be allowed to marry each other. It doesn't matter whether or not they are the same gender; in fact, I can't think of anything more trivial than whether or not two people who love each other are the same gender because all that matters is they love each other, as long as they are mature and responsible about each other. Why is everyone making it so complicated?

My only complaint about this entire situation is this: suppose two men decide to have a "union", a "social contract", or whatever you want to call it, and one of them works for a company that provides insurance coverage. That company wouldn't dare deny coverage for the man's partner. On the other hand, I couldn't get insurance coverage for Belle simply because we didn't have a piece of paper (this was not long after we met; the situation has, of course, changed). Doesn't that fit the definition of discrimination?

In response to something Timber Loftis said elsewhere [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] ...we weren't merely dating at the time. We had already met the requirements for "common law marriage" in Texas, but hadn't yet tied the knot.