I’m no social digressive (or is it “progressive”?), but I mostly agree with MISTRAD on this.  Although I appreciate the government’s recognition of the importance of traditional marriage (and do not believe that recognition violates anything in the constitution), I don’t really care whether they recognize my marriage or not.  My reasons for getting married were not legal, but religious in nature.

As I stated earlier, I don’t believe that the government is inherently responsible for the recognition of intimate relationships, but I don’t believe that government should be actively involved in prohibiting intimate relationships either.  The People have no responsibility to recognize homosexual or polygamist relationships as legally valid, but I don’t believe that the government should have the right to interfere in those relationships.  That’s why I believe California’s proposition 8 is entirely appropriate – the right of an individual to be involved in a relationship is preserved, as is the right of the People to choose whether or not to recognize that relationship.