Defining Marriage?

I was married before I was married, by my own definition. The Pro-Prop8 folks are afraid of homosexuality, not defending 'traditional marriage'. Remember Henry VIII? He re-defined marriage to permit divorce. It used to be one man & one woman "until death do us part". How easy to change the Forever clause?

Traditions are manifold.

How many ways can you be married?
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Church & State: A religious ceremony and/or a civil piece of paper.
Personal: You *feel* married!
Love - not a marriage of convenience.
Entitlements by your employer (W-2, Health)
Entitlements by your Government (get to visit a sick partner in the hospital, inheritance)

Then, there are the traditional traditions:

Is He/She from "the same side of the tracks"? Socio-economic pressures from your parents.

Is He/She the same nationality/ethnicity? "Girl, how could you marry a honkey?!" Indian/Pakistani, Hawaiian/Samoan, Ethiopian/Eritrean, and so on...

Is she/he much older/younger than you? Bad, or good?
Is the Man, the "man of the house" - sexism is traditional.

Same Religion? My Father's family was Catholic, my Mother's was Protestant - can you imagine the fight for my soul? How would I ever get married? How could my parents ever have gotten married?

Did your parent arrange the marriage - that is very, very traditional.

How did you rate?

Oh, Yeah...are you a man and a woman? Almost escaped my mind.