RE: Oklahoma Republican wants to make secular marriage impossible.
January 25, 2015 at 5:14 am
(This post was last modified: January 25, 2015 at 5:16 am by Huggy Bear.)
(January 23, 2015 at 4:54 pm)Esquilax Wrote: Under his proposal, judges and county clerks would be unable to sign marriage licenses that have not first had the approval of a religious representative, who in his world would just deny all gays that right as a matter of course.
Look up the history of the marriage license in America.
Marriage has always been a private contract between families. Not until the middle ages did the government start to regulate marriage (e.g. seeking permission to marry from your liege lord). Marriage licenses as a requirement was instituted in America to prevent miscegenation (interracial marriages), the whole concept of the marriage license is based on discrimination.
There are plenty of jurisdiction where simple cohabitation is enough evidence for marriage (common-law marriage).