Marriage outdated?

[Raven]

I do not personally feel that marriage is an outdated institution. Nor do I feel it to
be necessary even if I am married myself. My three daughers are all married, but they chose
that of their own volition. They knew quite well that my wife and I would not have batted
an eye had they chose to simply co-habitate. Like most things, there are both good things and
bad things about the institution. So think it over carefully and choose accordingly.

If you place a high value on being able to bale with a minimum of fuss and bother, than it's
best to just live together. If you want the advantages of being legally joined at the hip,
than it is best to get married. Even staying with cohabitation can complicate things
depending on the local legal landscape - "palimony", anyone? It is a most personal decision.
For my wife and I it did have importance, and that is why we chose it. We were already
committed to one another as it was. We could have skipped the marriage part and all would
have been pretty much the same. But it provided something that the two of us valued, our
committing to another in a public and legally binding way. That is always going to matter to
some couples. Why else would the LGBT community be fighting so hard for it? It certainly
seems to matter to them. Commitment ceremonies were quite common before they could actually
get married (in certain states). Although it had no legal ramifications, it did provide them
with a level of emotional satisfaction, they were "married" de facto if not de jure, so to
speak.

It is an institution that shall endure, I think. There will always be those who wish to
partake of it, because it has inherent value to them. Society is not so picky about it
these days, and I applaud that. It should not be less respectable not to be married. I would
like to see some "couples right" (for want of a better term) established. Any ideas on that?