marriage- civil ceremony

two ceremonies.... a civil one and a religious one at the same time. You can get married civilly without the church. Either way in order to be recognized by the state you need that piece of paper issued by the state. I got married by a judge. There was no religiousness to it. Yet my marriage is valid and accepted. That being any denial of gay marriage is descrimination of a group of people and is unconstitutional. You are right... there is no religious part of this except what the religious put onto it.

Both parties sign a document, and it is witnessed by others. That's the essential aspect of it. That contract gets recorded by some local authority and becomes a matter of public record. No religion needs to be involved.

Personally, I think a couple should be able to go to the County Clerk's office or to whatever place issues marriage licences, take a couple of friends with them, pay whatever fee is required to record the contract, and sign the forms. That should be the end of that. Or, as an alternative, they should be able to take the form to a notary public for witnessing, and then return it to the Clerk for recording.

If people want to have some religious ceremony, that's fine, but the contract is a civil matter.

not want to. My brother and sister in law wanted to get married in the church. The church refused because it had not had time to go through the counseling session that they require. I am all for same sex marriages but this question will be asked.