Outsiders setting down rules as to what constitutes or should constitute partnerships/marriages is every bit as nonsensical as the old practices of enforced marriage - it is no business of anybody's other than the couple (or however many) concerned - who gives anybody the right to decide of the details of partnerships - especially not the State or the Church.
It is of little surprise that one of the advocates of outside interference is a practicing homophobe.
"at these times it's easy to walk away"
Sure it is - an abused wife should hang on in there and continue to get battered "for the sake of the family" - that was the advice handed out regularly by the Church up to the point it began to lose its influence - dangerous up to the point of being lethal.
Marriage is what it says on the label "the tie that binds" - if you're into bondage, fine.
Jim Carroll