The Religious
Implications of Marriage

In discussing the argument that the people of California have a problem with extending marriage rights to same-sex couples because of the word's "religious" implications, one of the justices suggested stripping all Californians of the word "marriage" and entering couples into "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships."

Would it solve the problem?

Yes, Ken Starr argues -- it would solve the problem.

But the issue at hand, he says, is whether or not the people of California have the right to pass a proposition like Prop. 8 -- and by his reasoning, they do, simply because Californians have the right to essentially govern themselves.