Do GLBT couples need marriage? Isn't civil commitment enough? I am sure we will see ads to that effect in the fall. I used to find this a compelling question, but now it strikes me as only a distraction. I have three objections to civil commitment as opposed to same-gender marriage: a cynical objection, a practical one and an emotional one.
The cynic in me says that the same people opposed to same-gender marriage would fight against state-recognized civil commitment. To prove me wrong, the authors of the marriage amendment could ask that it be taken off the ballot and put back on only after civil commitment is recognized in Minnesota.
On a practical level, it would be hard and messy to have two parallel institutions. Aside from the questions of whether "separate but equal" could work, there is the entire question of which rights enjoyed by marriage would carry over to civil commitment and why those rights but not others.
On the emotional level, my brother Mike's commitment ceremony was beautiful. He and Wes did the usual premarital counseling. The service was performed in a church, by a pastor, before God, the congregation, family and friends. It was only symbolic, of course, since the pastor did not have the freedom to make it legal. It felt like a wedding, and I pray for the day when ministers have the freedom to make such ceremonies actual weddings.
Please join me in voting "no" on the marriage amendment.
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John Greene
Duluth
