Same-Sex Marriage Essay

Michael Lindenberger's essay “A Gay-Marriage Solution: End Marriage?” makes for interesting reading. His argument to get rid of government involvement in marriage and instead create a partnership ceremony that all people have access to, is a sensible and convincing one.
Lindenberger's main claim is that the most efficient way to give everyone equal rights in marriage is to abolish marriage itself. He says: “the best way out of the intractable legal wars over gay marriage is to take marriage out of the hands of the government altogether.” The thought behind this idea is that marriage is the only ceremony in which the government is involved. As Lindenberger points out, Bar Mitzvahs and Christenings are examples of ceremonies that governments have no part in, and both are seen as highly important in their respective religions. Therefore, he says, taking the government involvement out of marriage, and instead having a ceremony with a different title, could be the answer to allowing equality for all, and in particular gay couples.
Lindenberger gives plenty of examples as to why this idea would be preferable. As it stands, couples of certain faiths are granted a marriage where as others are granted a civil partnership; this creates a divide where gay couples, for example, do not have the right to marry in the same way as straight couples. Furthermore, the debate over gay marriage has been going on for a long time and shows little sign of slowing down any time soon. Abolishing marriage as we know it and granting people of all genders, sexualities and faiths the same rights to partnership would eradicate such debate once and for all.
Lindenberger creates a convincing argument in his article. The idea of a civil ceremony for people of all faiths and sexualities makes perfect sense. Of course, there would be opposition to the movement, but it would finally allow equality for all.