The French sort of accidentally stumbled onto that to some extent. They created a civil union ceremony for Gays. It is more of a simple contract that allowed for "near marriage." I don't recall all the facts, but the upshot is that a whole lot of straight couples are opting for it as well.

By the way Ebbie - plenty of people have suggested the same thing - why is the state involved in the marriage thing at all? If you and I went into a business partnership, we would draw up a contract, fill out the papers, pay the fees and be up and running - if we wanted to disolve that, we would simply follow the contract and walk away, depending on the finnancial issues.

The legal marriage is the same thing, except there is no negotiating the contract, which is why all non-amicable divorces are a freakin' mess.

Besides, people should be able to enter into a union type contract regardless of "love." Two (or hell, more than two people who have a strong personal connection, whether or not it's "amore" should be able to have certain rights if they wish. A very close friend of mine tried to kill herself a couple years ago, I had to lie to the hospital and tell her I was her brother in order to see her in the ICU. Her dad was around, but since he's part of the reason she's crazy, she needed someone like me to be there to hold her, etc. If there was a possibility of a cotract some way that would be a BIG improvement, yet the only thing that I'm aware of like that is being able to list someone to handle your finances, etc., after your death or in case of insanity, etc.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on that long.