Just like certificates of education, getting a certificate of marriage should be as easy as logging on to a website. Is gay marriage illegal in your state? No problem. Just sign on to the government website of another state and apply there, then print out your certificate and start demanding rights at home.
Or that’s the theory, anyhow. Michigan State University legal researchers Adam Candeub and Mae Kuykendall are backing the e-marriage effort, which would allow gay (and, theoretically, straight) couples to shop around for the best marriage license. What makes one better than another may come down to taxation, but for gays, it’s really about access. Reports NPR:
With an “e-marriage,” Candeub believes couples anywhere could go online and download their license from a state where same-sex marriage is legal. Then, they could still have their hometown ceremony with family and friends, the kiss and the cake.
Candeub says the proposal also has value for heterosexual couples, especially those deployed in the military. He argues that e-marriage could better facilitate long-distance weddings.
Still, the concept fails to change the reality that the vast majority of states refuse to recognize same-sex marriage.
But think how nicely it would look hanging next to that Michelangelo print.
Alexander
That’s… not a terrible idea, really. If I can get everything else online, including an update to my driver’s license, why not a marriage license?
Bill
I see a ‘Prop 9’ all over this one…
C. David Parsons
New Whitepaper Report: Is masturbation a sin unto death? What did Jesus teach on the subject? An article you will not want to miss. http://themissionnews.com/whitepaperreport/masturbation.htmNew
ohfashion36
a terrible idea,really
Pete
This is a silly idea too open to fraud. You could marry-up all sorts of people anonymously. If you can’t show up for your own wedding, it’s not much of a marriage !
LD
the same company that bans LGBTQ books will sell LGBTQ marriage certificates?
Lymis
Depends on what you mean.
My husband and I did something like that last year. While same-sex marriage was still legal in California, we went online, applied for our license and ceremony appointments and paid the fees.
We still had to fly to California, provide our ID and documentation, swear that they were accurate, and have our ceremony in front of the appropriate civil official (San Francisco City Hall is a gorgeous place to get married, by the way, and having the bust of Harvey Milk watching the ceremony added extra emotion.)
I doubt that the need to actually show up is going to change any time soon, nor is the need to get a license for and in the same state you are having your ceremony in. Straight people can’t get a license in one state and get married in another, why should we?
What we need it universal recognition of the legal marriages that we have, wherever it is that they are held.
It is also bizarre to say that you could shop around for a better license and choose a state that gives better rights. No matter where you are married, you only get the rights that the state you are in grants you. (Not even the state you reside in – if you are traveling, you are subject to their laws.) Straight people forget this because most of their rights ARE universally recognized.
Jonathan
While I think that the idea has merit (and am a fan of increased government access online in general), the NPR piece also points out the fact that states don’t want to lose all of that marriage industry money:
“…online marriage could pose an economic threat to states where it is legal.
In Iowa, for instance, a 2008 UCLA study predicted that same-sex marriage could generate $160 million in new revenue there in just three years.
The state approved same-sex marriage in April; by June, Christopher Diebel had founded MyIowaGayWedding.com. He questions why any Iowa politician would risk undercutting a growing segment of the state’s economy.”
RomanHans
> Is masturbation a sin unto death?
Speaking personally, I find it hard to relate to people who use the word “unto.” Hope this helps!
Drake
To C. David Parsons- Marry your same sex partner, and you guys can “cum unto” each other.
FakeName
the same company that bans LGBTQ books will sell LGBTQ marriage certificates?
Amazon does not ban LGBT books. There was an incident earlier this year in which some LGBT-related books, along with tens of thousands of other books in many other categories, temporarily lost their sales ranking. The conspiracy theorists howled, Amazon apologized and most of us got over it.