If the word 'marriage' applies to heterosexual civil unions then it should apply to all gay civil unions as well. If the government wants to get out of the marriage business altogether and issue only civil unions that'd be fine with me.
Here in Southern Baptist country people want the government to continue to perform heterosexual marriages and they don't want anything, not even civil unions, for gays. They believe that marriage is a blessing from God but they have no problem at all allowing the government to be the conduit for this blessing. They have totally abandoned their own heritage as the religion that first fought for separation of church and state. They do, however, continue their heritage as the most intolerant of mainstream faiths (speaking here of Southern Baptists, of course, not all Baptists). The Southern Baptist church was founded for the express purpose of defending the institution of slavery. They abandoned that stance many, many years ago, back in 1996!
The new "improved" Southern Baptist Church is just as intolerant as it ever was. The only thing that has changed is the target of that intolerance.
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