I still want a different word for 'gay marriage'

Okay, I have a solution for you, since YOU are the one having so much of a problem with gay marriage, why don't you just put on a blind fold so you don't have to see it and stick you fingers in your ears so you don't have to hear about it. That way the rest of us can just refer to gay marriage as marriage and you won't be offended by it or be tempted to have a fake gay marriage to help out your biker buddy who doesn't have insurance.

Well the way it works is that the government does not recognise religious marriages, to it, all marriages are civil unions. The whole bit with having to go to the County Clerk and get a marriage license and have the priest/rabbi/judge/... sign it is the civil union part. The church/temple/... part is the religious part.

Well Phat, what then is the practical reason to exclude gays from marriage?Edited by kjsimons, : Removed extranious 'then'Edited by kjsimons, : spelling

Well it may not be technically correct, but the point I was trying to make is that you are not legally married in this country without having a signed marriage license, which is the governments, hence civil, recognition of said marriage. Most people think of 'civil union' as a non-religious marriage, but all marriages in this county have this civil component. Some state even have what's called 'common law' marriages in which just living as man and wife for a period of years will get you 'married'.Edited by kjsimons, : sp

Well I just looked up the Orange County FL Clerk of Court site (http://orangeclerk.onetgov.net/service/marriage.shtml) and they don't make a distinction between civil union vs marriage, they are both marriages.

Right they don't mention 'civil union', because it's redundant. Would it be clearer to you if we used the word 'state' or 'government' recognised in place of the word 'civil' perhaps?I know that recently the term is being used to refer to same sex marriages, but in my experience it was in use prior to all this and it referred to non-church/temple/whatever marriages, usually disparigingly.

Only if you get a marriage license and have the proper people sign it will the state recognise your marriage/union. You can just have a religious ceremony and in the eyes of your religion and god(s) you will be married, just don't expect the state to grant you any of the rights bestowed to government sanctioned marriages. It unfortunate that the state didn't use a different word for the civil part of marriage, because then we wouldn't need a different word for it to appease those who aren't comfortable sharing the word marriage.