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[jfb]

Michael Kinsley:

So, we have two options here. We can add gay marriage to the short list of controversies—abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty—that are so frozen and ritualistic that debates about them are more like Kabuki performances than intellectual exercises. Or we can think outside the box. There is a solution that ought to satisfy both camps and may not be a bad idea even apart from the gay-marriage controversy.

That solution is to end the institution of marriage. Or rather (he hastens to clarify, Dear) the solution is to end the institution of government-sanctioned marriage. Or, framed to appeal to conservatives: End the government monopoly on marriage. Wait, I've got it: Privatize marriage.

He glosses over pretty much all the problems with this idea, but it's still an interesting read.

Comments

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere else today of someone suggesting that marriage be simply defined much looser and not exclusively sex-based at all, but simply a long term commitment sort of sense, which is an interesting concept.