[extropy-chat] No Joy in Mudville

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Bryan Moss <bryan.moss at dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
> Brian Lee wrote:
> > I favor someone else on this list who suggested
> that the gov't get out 
> > of the marriage business altogether and only allow
> civil unions. Then 
> > any marriage is purely non-legal and ceremonial.

> Doesn't it just amount to a name change to appease
> bigots?

Yes - except for the fact of the strong (apparently
much stronger than some of us realised) religious
connotations surrounding the current name.  We want to
emphasize that the government-granted right is
non-religious - so, in the same way that the
government does not "baptize" or "convert" immigrants
(it "naturalizes" them), nor does it "excommunicate"
people (though it does "repatriate" them, and declare
certain people "persona non grata"), it does not
recognize "marriages" (though it does recognize "civil
unions").