How gay marriage is allowed in belgium [View All]

[BelgianMadCow]

We have two marriages (NO, not one for gays and one "regular ;-))

1) The legal marriage. Non-religious ceremony performed by a government official (mayor and the like). This extends all the (legal) rights to the couple, doesn't matter if they are gay or not. People in this situation call themselves "married" and are so for all intents and purposes, except religious. This state is called "married for the law" and the ceremony is called "civil marriage"

2) If the couple wants it, a religious (or other, really) ceremony, celebrated under the conditions and using the ritual of the concerned religion. The catholic church here for example will not perform holy matrimony on a gay couple. This ceremony has NO legal implications and the resulting state is called "married for the church".

When people say they are married, they speak of the first. The second is private business.

It would seem to me that some religious people in the US are allowed to define marriage as only existing in (their) context 2, and extend that (personal and private) opinion to context one. A strict separation of church and state should solve that.

Just FYI
regards
bmc

edit: changed "gays" to "gay couple"