Erin Arron: Civil marriages ARE "normal" marriages. It is marriage from a legal perspective. Religious marriage on the other hand, has no bearing whatsoever in law, and does not entitle people/couples to the legal benefits associated with marriage. That would be civil marriage.A lot of people don't seem to be aware of the distinction between religious marriage and civil marriage....Show more
Erin Arron: nice answer pippyI miss pippy longstocking
Jorge Detlefs: The whole matter of gay marriage is solely about its civil aspects. "Civil" marriage merely means a legal marriage -- the rights and responsibilities of the union. No religious aspects are involved.Look, even if a straight couple have the most religious of marriage ceremonies -- you know, one of those long ceremonies that involves Biblical readings, a Catholic high mass, or whatever -- their marriage is NOT valid in the eyes of the law unless they get a marriage license. Without a nice bureaucratic ce! rtification, there is no legally binding union....Show more
Hunter Osterberger: As long as the rights are the same, I don't care what they call it
Alexis Reyer: Well in Britain a civil partnership is basically the same as a straight marriage, just the wording is different.
Barton Slisz: i seriously don't care as long as i hav the right to marry, y should i
Rocio Karvis: I assume by "normal" marriage you mean a religious one?A civil marriage is a purely legal one, conducted by a registrar or other authorised official, and would take place in a secular building licensed for the purpose (though i know in the USA a legal marriage can take place anywhere as long as it is conducted by an authorised official). I'm speaking as British - here, for a civil marriage, you have to apply at the local civic offices and the wedding will take place there. Many town halls and civic centres have marriage rooms set aside for the purpose, though since about 15 years ag! o it has been possible to do it in any other non-religious pub! lic building registered for the purpose. All that has been legal here since 1837 and is as valid for legal purposes as a religious marriage.Not surprisingly, the church is not keen on homosexual marriage and I don't know any country where it is legal where a church wedding is possible, at least in the major denominations - all ours have issued guidelines saying that they will not even do services of blessing for it.Here in the UK, homosexual marriage is called civil partnership (the difference in name was to keep objectors happy, though it differs from marriage in name only). It is expressly forbidden for a civil partnership ceremony to take place in a religious building, and in fact a ceremony is not required - all that is needed after the usual formality of giving 15 days' notice is for the couple and 2 witnesses to all sign the civil partnership register. But in practice there will be a ceremony and it will be entirely composed by the couple themselves and the registr! ar - the registrar will introduce the ceremony, the couple will exchange vows, there may be music played and poetry readings - whatever appropriate they like, and then follows the signing of the register. The only difference there from a heterosexual civil marriage is that in the case of a heterosexual marriage, there are vows laid down in the Marriage Act that must be said.I had the great pleasure of attending one back in March as one of the two best men. It took place in the council chamber of my friend's local civic offices, which was a really nice setting for it - just the same as they do for a heterosexual civil marriage as that building doesn't have a separate marriage room.Gay marriage or civil union of some kind is legal in most of western Europe - the Netherlands was the first country in the world to introduce it. There are only a few states in the USA where it is possible....Show more
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