And what's the difference between civil marriage and "regular" marriage? Personally, I don't think we should be legislating marriage, period. It's an agreement between two people, a contract.
Avashi,
The difference as I see it, that is the difference between a civil marriage and a regular marriage as you put it is that one is the more traditional man-woman union and has religious overtones, a civil union is simply a union between two people that is recognized by law. In my opinion this is how it should work, all of us married folk, whether gay or straight should have civil union licenses from the state which give us legal rights as couples, if we so choose we can have a ceremony at our church for the religious sanctioning of the union where we recieve some certificate or whatever from the church indicating that the marriage was sanctified based on that faith's beliefs. As I see it the government has no business in the religious aspect of marriage once so ever in a reverse type of church/government separation.
As you put it, marriage is an agreement between two people, or a contract, therefore it falls under contract/domestic law. The contract between two people is one of huge importance affecting everything from inheritence, insurance coverage, custody of children, pensions, etc. so it needs to be legislated as there is a lot at stake here from a public policy stand point.