In all the recent fuss about the legality of gay marriages I've never heard anyone talking at all about other forms of marriage and generally reviewing our laws regarding marriage. If we are really going to do a detailed re-examination of what it means to be married, let's go all the way ! What about line marriages, clan marriages, triads, polygamy and polyandry ? Why stop at gay marriages ? A marriage could be seen more as a legal agreement with regards to property rights and financial obligations. Marriages could be treated as corporate entities. Standardized agreements on property rights and child care should be enshrined in all marriage contracts and thereby taking the stigma off of pre-nuptial agreements. Make full financial and personal disclosure mandatory. Children's well being is of paramount importance in any of these considerations.
Marriage is a way of making a legal commitment about your emotional state. If you change your emotional state, you should be able to change your legal status without a lot of attendent fuss. With all the attendant legal repercussions. Obligations taken on must be honoured (children, mortgages, etc). Profits made or lost shared equally. We would have to change a lot of attitudes as to what it means to be a family but, we would be including other options in our lives . We could radically change what it means to be both married and divorced. Isn't this actually a great opportunity to change the entire institution of marriage ? Ask anyone who's ever been divorced if they don't think the whole thing should be handled differently. Maybe we shouldn't just change one part of our marriage laws, maybe we should change them all !
If, in the end, marriages are about love then all the ways people can feel must be reflected in our laws. Everything must be covered under our laws. From the true, 'till-death-do-they-part love of childhood sweethearts to protecting the minor children of the all-lesbian love commune from their convicted-rapist-stalking-sperm-donor father. Adoption laws should also be re-considered. Maybe we should also look at the situation of a clone in the family.
Love is a strange thing. Our laws should reflect that !
If we are going to make a radical change, let's just make sure that it's radical enough.