Samildanach Posted:

but the folks who can only get “civil unions” still manage to come out worse.

It’s a pipe-dream of mine. In my fantasy (okay, impossible) system, nobody could get “married” by a state. Marriage as a legal concept and as a religious ceremony would be distinct and separate. A male-female or same-sex couple could get unionized without going through a religious ceremony, or vice-versa.

My intention wasn’t to literally do so, however. My suggestion of an impossible situation was intended to suggest that it’d be nice if we could separate the legal aspects of marriage from the religious ones in everyone’s mind. In reality, I’d still rather everyone were able to be married.