Comment 7 by QuestioningKat :

Perhaps the word "marriage" should not be legally used anymore. All legal marriages should be a "domestic union" or "domestic partnership" regardless of sexual orientation.Religious marriages should be "spiritual unions." So if a hetero couple wants to get married, they would get a license for a "domestic union" and then have their spiritual/religious ceremony and get their certificate from the church. If a church approves of gay marriage they could also have both the legal paperwork for a domestic union and then a spiritual union.

Kat, I wholeheartedly agree. From what I hear, the main argument that is being made against same-sex marriages is that it completely alters the meaning of a marriage (male-female, spiritual). Let religion keep the outdated term 'marriage', or change it to spiritual union, whatever. As long as the actual, contractual partnership between two people, any two people, is carried out by an independant institution or secular government. This guarantees equal rights and benefits for any two people who wish to enter in such a contract.

Then it's off to the small details. If churches are legally mandated to perform this specific civil contract, are they allowed to refuse gays when they have the alternative to have the same contract made at City Hall? Will proponents of same-sex marriage continue whining that there is still a difference between a marriage and a partnership? etc.