In favour of destroying marriage

[sqbr]

So, gay marriage is slowly making ground in America. Good for them, I say.

Now most of the people I've seen say anything against it are homophobic conservatives, and their arguments aren't worth even mentioning. But another objection (which I found difficult to understand at first but have gained more sympathy for the more I think about it) is that expanding the definition of marriage to include gay couples ignores the larger problem with their society (and ours too) focussing so much on "marriage" and ignoring more complicated partnerships, ie the law tends to assume that spouse = coparent = romantic partner = next of kin = co-owner of house etc.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the best thing to do would be to remove "marriage" as a legal state and have various legal partnerships/relationships to do with next of kin, sharing of assets, childrearing etc, with the default being the same as the current legal marriage. What do people think? Am I missing something? I was inspired by the posts Why this queer isn’t celebrating and intersectionality and the stickiness of it all.

(nb the first question is just for calibration purposes :))

[Poll #1206670]

I realise this may seem like an odd position for me to take given that I'm in pretty much 100% mainstream marriage myself, but the fact that it happens to be the right thing for us doesn't mean I think everyone should be shoehorned into it.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

Oh, yes, me too, I think someone bringing that up is what sold me on the "marriage is just too restrictive" idea in the first place. Though I can see that being a lot more complicated for, say, Centrelink to get their heads around :)

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

I've read a few good articles recently (which I've failed to bookmark, d'oh - PolyInTheMedia, perhaps?) about how problematic the current legal framework for marriage can be when it comes to poly families.

I believe there are quite a few people in the US who have opted to protect themselves, partners and children as best as possible by setting up what is technically a business partnership and using it to create a family law structure. Apparently business partnership law makes an excellent base for this sort of agreement, as it's well set up to deal equitably with groups of people.

[alias_sqbr]

Mm, I can see business law being a good base, since it's set up to deal with lots of complex possibilities.