Candidate Joe Biden On Marriage Equality

Update: Thanks to a suggestion by Idle Eyes and a Dormy, I changed references of "same-sex marriage" to "marriage equality" in this post. I like that better and I want to see how it looks in print. I may have to change my description permanently!

Presidential candidate Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware, was on Meet the Press this morning. I have to reserve final judgment on him but I've always liked what I've heard. I liked what he had to say about marriage equality today. I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially he said marriage equality is inevitable. He said that the government shouldn't dictate the meaning of marriage to religious institutions, but should also strip away discrimination against same-sex couples.

In a round about way, and in a way that makes total sense to me (see below), he staked out a position for civil unions. In fact, when host Tim Russert followed up about the recent New Hampshire civil union law, Biden said he agreed with it.

• I believe that the religious and governmental aspects of marriage/civil unions should be separated.
• I don't believe religious institutions that oppose marriage equality should be forced to support them in word or deed.
• I do believe religious institutions that support marriage equality should be allowed to support them in word and deed.
• I believe that ALL current forms of government sanctioned unions should be called civil unions — same-sex and straight.
• I believe that government civil unions should provide equal rights and responsibilities to all that enter into them.
• I believe this is an issue for the federal government, not just states, because so many of the rights and responsibilities to such couples are conferred by the federal government. This would also even the laws across state lines.

Essentially, every couple goes to the local courthouse to get a civil union whereby the government assigns legally binding rights and responsibilities to the signees of a civil union license. These couples may then go to their house of worship, or not, to enter into a marriage. (Or in the case of Mormons, they can go to a temple and get "sealed.")
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