Annulment

To quote directly from Wikipedia, "Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is retroactive: an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed."

I agree fully with protecting the sanctity of marriage as a religious institution. I believe that it is written in the Christian Bible that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman. I think that going to a justice of the peace and signing a marriage license and being declared married is not a religious ceremony and does not create a holy union and does not constitute a marriage.

I think that if two homosexuals want to go to a justice of the peace and be legally united with all benefits allowed therein the government should not say anything about it because it is a legal union of two individuals. To continue, if two adults, even if they are related, desire to join into a legal union they should not be stopped by any force of government or church. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's.

With a divorce rate at or beyond 50% and many celebrity marriages lasting a matter of days or weeks, it is difficult to argue that what is currently called marriage compares to the holy union many people think of when they use the word.

I think that if churches do not want to marry gays that is fine. If the Baptist church down the road doesn't agree with the practice that is well within their rights as an institution to decide. If the Episcopal church does agree with the practice then they should be allowed to unite any two people into sacred matrimony as they see fit without any interference. I believe that refers to the freedom of religion discussed in the first amendment of the Constitution.

I think that marriage is a sacred word which implies a religious ceremony and a religious union and should not have any impact on legal discussion in any case. If two people want to get married but don't want to be considered legally united, what's the problem? They want ceremony without benefit.

I think that legal unions imply a secular contract and should have no impact on religious discussion in any case. If two people want to be legally united without getting married, what's the problem? They want benefit without ceremony.

Some people have seen too many divorces in their lives and don't think that marriage is a beneficial union anymore. They might live with someone else, share bank accounts, share children, share mortgages, etc. They should be able to get legally joined for the purposes of tax breaks and hospital visitation rights and so on.

Some people just want to get married without all of the legal mumbo jumbo and want to express their love in a religious venue. They should be able to get married and wear their rings etc.

The government should not use the word marriage and the church should not be involved in creating contracts. Though most people would go to a courthouse and get a legal union and then go to a church and get married (or vice versa) there are plenty of outliers that would not to make such a separation beneficial to everyone.

Rather than force the government and the church to go through a painful divorce and try to figure out who gets which books, they should get an annulment and just go their separate ways.