A Tipping Point for Gay Marriage?

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by August

Well not now it isn't but it used to be. What exactly is the governments justification for requiring people to beg their permission to get married?

In different cultures, for the last 2000 years some marriage laws applied to government. Marriage itself existed before that dictated by the customs of the people.

Wwhen church and state shared power, many religious codes were written into secular law. This was mostly for the elite class, the poor still did things like jump over a brookstick or had sex and called themselves married, but then the man retained all the power. Women and children were often left in poverty after divorce, so more secular law was written in over time to protect them, much more in the last 100 years.

Like most things government got involved. They define it's legal status for our so called protection. If you want those legal protections and benefits you get a legal wedding. You can still call yourself married, just has no legal status.

Have to remember most of our secular law evolved from religious laws. Judges needed standards to apply for divorce, most of those standards however apply for divorce.