My Resolution to the Whole Gay Marriage Crisis Thing

I've mentioned in post after post after post after post that I was torn about the concept of gay marriage. But no longer! I just had an epiphany, one so simple that I'm surprised that no one has pushed for it before...

The main argument that gays have regarding marriage is that denying them the right to marry denies them their civil rights. And there is a case to be made for this. There are certain legal changes that come when two people are legally married. In most states, the married couple now legally share joint ownership of everything. And the example that is always mentioned by gay rights activists: a married person has the right to be in the hospital room with his/her spouse, something that can't be guaranteed if you're just the "partner" of the sick person, even if you've been that person's partner for 50 years!

Some states have tried to resolve this by issuing "Civil Unions" to gay partners. A civil union provides all of the legal rights and responsibilities but is not called "marriage" (Which begs Shakespeare's comment about a rose by any other name). Gays have argued that this does not go far enough--they want to be legally recognized as married.

So the epiphany that hit me today was this: State governments need to get out of the marriage business altogether! Eliminate the entire word "marriage" from state law. Give EVERYONE civil union certificates. Let churches be the entities that gives out marriage certificates. Some already do anyway.

Under this system, any couple--straight or gay--of sound mind and body who want to create a contract to be life partners can go to the county courthouse and get a Civil Union license. And that's the ONLY choice they have. A Civil Union license. The term "marriage" is reserved for use by religious organizations (and that organization MUST be recognized by the IRS as a religious organization). Only churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. can issue Marriage Certificates. If a church wishes to deny a marriage certificate to a couple FOR ANY REASON, then that's the right of that church. The couple is free to try elsewhere.

The government should not be in the business of handing out marriage certificates, only civil union licenses.

Now tell me, where's the flaw in my logic?*
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*And don't tell me that my flaw is that the IRS is part of the government so that in the end the government is still deciding who gets to issue the certificates. That's not the case at all. The IRS is only deciding for tax purposes what is a religion and what is not. And their criteria is fairly clear and can be found right at about the halfway point of this article.