Today Obama stated that he supports gay marriage. I support his decision to not take away rights from any individual in this country. (I'm not going to discuss whether this was the right political decision, as I'm not a political scientist.)
This issue is clearly a wedge issue that divides many Americans. However, there is an interesting solution from the economists Thaler and Sunstein, who wrote the bestseller book, Nudge:
"Under our approach, the only legal status states would confer on couples would be a civil union, which would be a domestic partnership agreement between any two people. Marriages would be strictly private matters, performed by religious and other private organizations. Within broad limits, marriage-granting organizations would be free to choose whatever rules they like for a marriage conducted under their auspices. .... Instead of channeling every partnership into the same one-size-fits-all arrangement of state marriage, couples could choose the marriage-granting organization that best suits their needs and desires. Government would not be asked to endorse any particular relationships by conferring on them the term marriage."
There's a solution that should not be as divisive. Make marriage a private institution, while the government support equality by granting civil unions.
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