I personally believe that the opponents of California’s Proposition 8 and similar measures around the country restricting marriage to a man and a woman should quit wasting their time and money fighting the laws. They should instead redirect their efforts toward what I see as the logical consquences of these laws. It mystifies me that nobody has demanded that federal and state laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation be rigorously enforced in the states which have enacted these laws.

If marriage is indeed a discriminatory institution, then states should immediately cease issuing marriage licenses, stop providing funding for training marriage counselors in public colleges and universities, and eliminate preferential tax treatment for married couples (the federal government should eliminate this as well). It should be illegal for anyone to ask one’s marital status or to use it as a condition in any matter (after all, stating that one is married is in effect stating one’s sexual orientation in those states).

Churches could continue to marry couples according to their beliefs, but there would be no legal standing for such marriages – simply a religious ritual. Those wishing some sort of legal recognition could establish a domestic partnership with as many of the rights, privileges, benefits, etc. currently afforded to marriage as they can identify and claim,